SpaceX Starship launch: World’s biggest rocket loses contact after reaching space
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After months of delays, SpaceX finally launched its massive Starship rocket as part of a major flight test of the Mars-bound craft – before losing it around 10 minutes after lift off.
Saturday’s attempt comes seven months after the first effort to launch a fully stacked Starship – which is both the tallest and most powerful rocket ever built – ended in a catastrophic explosion, just minutes after lift off.
SpaceX boss Elon Musk says Starship holds the key to making humanity a multi-planetary species, with plans to build hundreds of the spacecraft in order to set up a permanent human colony on Mars.
But first Starship had to conduct an uncrewed orbital test, which saw it leave from its launchpad at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas, before both stages of the rocket were lost.
A 20 minute launch window opened at 7am CT (1pm GMT), with the flight scheduled to last around 90 minutes, though ending within 10. You can find all the latest updates and watch a live stream below.
Starship launch live: SpaceX attempting 84th rocket to orbit in 2023
If successful, today’s Starship launch will be the 84th time this year that SpaceX has sent a rocket into orbit – a record-extending figure.
The majority of the orbital launches in 2023 have been with reused Falcon 9 rockets, with today’s effort marking only the fifth time a new rocket has been used. It will also be the first time ever that SpaceX has succeeded in sending its Starship rocket into orbit, as well as the biggest rocket in history to achieve the feat.
This chart shows how quickly Falcon 9 rocket launches ramped up in recent years, and how reliable they have become. SpaceX will be hoping Starship can become its next workhorse.
Starship launch live: Elon Musk takes break from X storm to post about Starship
SpaceX boss Elon Musk – who also heads several other multi-billion dollar companies – has had a busy few days, attracting hundreds of headlines and countless column inches after being accused of promoting an anti-semitic conspiracy theory on his platform X.
It’s led to criticism from the White House, as well as the loss of major advertisers Disey and IBM.
Despite the furore, the world’s richest person will be focussed on the Starship launch for the next few hours.
“Getting back to productive matters,” he wrote on X. “Starship flight 2 launches in ~6 hours!!”
Starship launch live: World’s biggest – and loudest – rocket prepares for lift off
There is less than two hours to go until the launch window opens for what is not only the world’s biggest rocket, but also the world’s loudest.
SpaceX has issued a noise advisory, warning residents of Cameron County in Texas that Starship’s 33 Raptor engines may cause a disturbance.
I was in Cape Canaveral earlier this year to watch the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which is relatively small by comparison. It was still the loudest thing I have ever heard.
The frequency of the launches mean locals are pretty much unfazed by it these days, with one telling me that it’s becoming like an airport. You can read the full story here:
‘It’s becoming like an airport’: How SpaceX normalised rocket launches
Even crewed missions to Mars may soon seem mundane, says one space industry veteran
Starship launch live: ‘All systems and weather are go'
We have a new update from SpaceX – and it’s good news!
“All systems and weather are go for the second integrated flight test of Starship,” the space company writes on X.
Starship launch live: What to expect from today’s rocket test
With one hour to go until the Starship launch window opens, here’s what to expect if all goes to plan.
Following the countdown, there are several key moments to look out for, beginning with the lift off itself. Several of the early Starship prototypes failed at this stage, however the last orbital launch attempt made it off the pad without any fuss.
Next comes Max Q at around 50 seconds after lift off, which is the moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket.
Between two and three minutes after lift off is stage separation, which is where everything went wrong last time. SpaceX has tried to rectify this problem by adding an engine fire that will separate Starship from its Super Heavy booster.
While Starship continues on its journey around the planet, the booster rocket will attempt to come back down to land.
Roughly an hour and 17 minutes after the lift off, Starship will begin its reentry from orbit. 13 minutes later, SpaceX says there will be “an exciting landing”.
Here’s roughly what it will all look like:
Starship launch live: SpaceX prepares for countdown
SpaceX has given a couple more updates from its Starship preparations. Propellant load for its Super Heavy booster is underway, as is the propellant load of Starship’s upper stage.
The launch window opens in 40 minutes and closes in one hour, so we could be seeing a countdown as soon as the window opens.
The live stream will be up and running shortly...
Starship launch live: A reminder of what happened last time
On 20 April this year, SpaceX’s first attempt at sending Starship into orbit ended in a dramatic explosion just a few minutes after lift off. The issue came at the moment of stage separation, however SpaceX said the test should still be considered a success as it provided loads of data that will prove very useful for today’s attempt.
Here’s a video showing what happened last time. Hopefully we won’t be seeing a repeat.
Starship launch live: Countdown underway
SpaceX says the biggest challenge for today will be the stage separation, which is where the first flight failed.
If that is successful, then anything beyond that will be considered a bonus.
“The further we fly, the more data we can collect,” SpaceX says.
The countdown has begun, the launch is scheduled for 25 minutes from now.
Starship launch live: Backup windows in place
If anything goes wrong in the buildup and the launch has to be aborted, then the backup window is either 24 hour or 48 hours from today, depending on how far SpaceX gets through the countdown.
“While it’s not happening in a lab or on a test stand, this is absolutely a test. What we’re doing today will provide invaluable data to continue rapid development of Starship,” SpaceX posted to X a few minutes ago.
“This rapid, iterative development approach has been the basis for all of SpaceX’s major innovative advancements including Falcon, Dragon, and Starlink.”
Starship launch live: ‘Good chance of damage'
SpaceX says there is a “good chance” that the Super Heavy booster will be damaged during the stage separation, which takes place around three minutes after lift off. Hopefully it will be minor damage, and not the catastrophic explosion that brought April’s test flight to a sudden end.
“Getting through hot staging would be a major milestone,” SpaceX said.
The company has made no assurances for this test flight, other than one. SpaceX writes on its website: “Excitement guaranteed.”
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