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Watch again: Live launch of SpaceX’s Starship

Lucy Leeson
Saturday 18 November 2023 12:53 GMT
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Watch the live launch of the SpaceX Starship rocket into orbit on Saturday (18 November).

After months of delays, SpaceX will finally attempt to launch its massive Starship rocket into space for the first time.

Today’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.

Starship must first successfully conduct an uncrewed orbital test, which will see it leave from its launchpad at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas, before flying almost all the way around the Earth and splashing down off the coast of Hawaii.

A 20-minute launch window opens at 7am CT (1pm GMT).

The flight is expected to last around 90 minutes.

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