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    • Date, time, how to watch the test flight live
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    Date, time, how to watch the test flight live

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    SpaceX is on the cusp of another test of its Starship vehicle that will be critical to future human spaceflight, and the public will be able to watch it – along with President-elect Donald Trump, who may attend the launch along with SpaceX -CEO Elon Musk.

    Last week, the massive 400-foot mega rocket was rolled out to SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, near Brownsville, Texas, as preparations were underway for Tuesday’s scheduled flight.

    The spacecraft will play a crucial role in NASA’s lunar ambitions amid a heated international space race to return to the moon. As part of the U.S. space agency’s ambitious Artemis campaign, the first lunar program since the Apollo era of the 1970s, NASA is paying SpaceX $4 million to develop a spacecraft that will carry astronauts safely from Earth orbit to the surface can transport from the moon.

    Musk also sees the spaceship as the vehicle with which humans will eventually colonize Mars. Musk has previously expressed his vision of sending the first spaceships to Mars in late 2026, the next time Earth and Mars align, followed by crewed flights in 2028.

    In its sixth test, the Starship itself will fly a similar route over the Gulf of Mexico as previous flights before landing in the Indian Ocean for the third time in a row. As for the booster, SpaceX officials hope to replicate what they first did in the previous test, autonomously returning it to the landing pad before picking it up with two giant mechanical arms.

    Here’s what you need to know about when and how to watch the launch.

    Spaceship launch: Mega rocket flies from SpaceX’s starbase in Texas for the sixth time

    What time is the spaceship launch?

    SpaceX said last week on social media platform X that Starship’s sixth flight test could start as early as Tuesday, November 19.

    According to SpaceX, the 30-minute launch window opens at 5:00 PM EST.

    After previous tests took place in the morning, this time SpaceX is adjusting the flight’s launch window to late afternoon for “better conditions for visual observations,” the company said.

    How to watch the spaceship launch

    SpaceX will host a livestream of the test flight starting about 30 minutes before launch.

    The webcast will be available on the website and social media platform X. Coverage will also be available on SpaceX’s new X TV app.

    “As is the case with all developmental testing, the schedule is dynamic and likely to change, so be sure to check in here and monitor our X account for updates,” SpaceX said.

    What is SpaceX’s spaceship?

    SpaceX has spent years developing and testing the Starship, which is classified as a superheavy launch vehicle and is hailed as the largest and most powerful rocket ever built.

    The entire craft consists of two components: the 165-meter-long Starship spacecraft itself, and the 232-meter-long ‘Super Heavy’ rocket on which it is mounted. SpaceX envisions the powerful spacecraft as a fully reusable transportation system that can carry both people and cargo to Earth’s orbit, the moon and even Mars.

    What happened during Starship’s previous test flights?

    Since April 2023, Starship has undergone five test flights.

    Although the rocket’s first three tests ended in explosions, officials say the rocket has improved with each demonstration they have conducted with the vehicle. The explosions came to an end during the fourth and fifth test flights when Starship successfully landed in the Indian Ocean in both June and October.

    One of the biggest advances in progress also came during the final flight test when SpaceX mission controllers not only returned the rocket booster to the launch site, but also yanked it out of the sky with two giant mechanical arms, nicknamed “chopsticks.”

    Eric Lagatta covers the latest and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]

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