SpaceX launch: How to watch Starship liftoff live today
Elon Musk’s rocket company is targeting a launch time on Friday morning
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Elon Musk’s SpaceX is conducting the biggest rocket launch in history – and you can follow along live.
The company’s Starship rocket is one day expected to carry humans to the Moon and onto Mars. But first it will conduct its first ever orbital test, flying up from its launchpad in Texas and travelling all the way around Earth.
Mr Musk says the launch is as likely to fail as succeed. And he is “guaranteeing excitement” for anyone following along.
The company is also making it easy to do so by offering a live stream that will capture all of the journey – as well as the preparation and analysis once it is done.
You can watch that live on YouTube, as well as following along with The Independent’s live coverage. Full details are below.
What time will the rocket launch?
The launch is scheduled for 8am local central time, which is 9am eastern or 2pm in the UK; the launch window allows for time either side of that, but SpaceX confirmed it was targeting that time in a tweet. It is expected to take about 90 minutes.
You can find everything you need to know about that launch – and the rest of the journey – here.
How to follow live
SpaceX will be offering its own live stream, which you can find on its website here. It is also usually available directly on YouTube.
The live stream will begin around 45 minutes before launch. If everything progresses on schedule, that should mean that it will begin around 8.15am eastern time, or 1.15pm in the UK.
SpaceX also uses Twitter heavily, especially before and after the live stream, providing new updates on its plans and what is happening. You can find the company’s account here.
You can also follow everything – before and after – on The Independent’s live blog, here.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments