Watch SpaceX launch is Starship Flight 8 megarocket test flight today – Space.com
Liftoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET today (March 3).
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Update for 7 pm ET: SpaceX called off the launch of Starship Flight 8 due to last-minute glitches on the Booster and Ship vehicles. The company is expected to release a new launch date target soon. This story will be updated with that new time, once available.SpaceX plans to launch the eighth test flight of its huge Starship rocket today (March 3), and you can watch the dramatic action live.Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, is scheduled to lift off from SpaceX’s Starbase site in South Texas today during a window that opens at 6:30 p.m. EST (2330 GMT; 5:30 p.m. local Texas time).You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly via the company. Coverage will begin about 40 minutes before liftoff.Starship Die Cast Rocket Model Now $47.99 on Amazon. If you can’t see SpaceX’s Starship in person, you can score a model of your own. Standing at 13.77 inches (35 cm), this is a 1:375 ratio of SpaceX’s Starship as a desktop model. The materials here are alloy steel and it weighs just 225g.If all goes according to plan today, Super Heavy will return to Starbase and be caught by the launch tower’s “chopstick” arms about seven minutes after liftoff.Starship’s upper stage, meanwhile, will deploy four dummy versions of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband satellites on a suborbital trajectory before splashing down in the Indian Ocean off Western Australia about 66 minutes after launch.Those were also the main goals of Starship Flight 7, which launched on Jan. 16. SpaceX pulled off a Super Heavy chopsticks catch that day, but Ship didn’t fare so well: It suffered a propellant leak and ended up exploding above the Atlantic Ocean before it could deploy its mock Starlink spacecraft. (There were 10 such craft on board Starship on the last flight.)Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!Related: SpaceX catches Super Heavy booster on Starship Flight 7 test but loses upper stage (video, photos)— Starship and Super Heavy explained— Will 2025 be the year of Starship? SpaceX’s megarocket is growing up.— SpaceX likely to get FAA approval for 25 Starship launches in 2025SpaceX is developing Starship to help humanity settle the moon and Mars, and to handle the bulk of the company’s other launch tasks as well. NASA has a big stake in the vehicle; the agency picked Starship to be the first crewed lunar lander for its Artemis program, which aims to land astronauts on the moon in the next few years.The current iteration of Starship stands 403.5 (123 meters) tall, but SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has said future versions will be even bigger.Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, “Out There,” was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.Sunrise on the moon! Private Blue Ghost lander captures amazing shot after historic lunar touchdown (photo)Going to SXSW 2025? Here are the festival’s best space-themed panelsSpaceX calls off Starship Flight 8 launch test due to rocket issues (video)
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