What time is SpaceX’s Starship Flight 8 launch on March 3? – Space.com
SpaceX’s eighth Starship test flight will launch on Monday, March 3, at 6:30 p.m. EST (2330 GMT).
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SpaceX is poised to launch its latest Starship megarocket next week, a test that will also attempt to catch the world’s largest rocket booster with giant metal chopsticks. If you want to watch it live, we’ve got details on when and how to see it.The Starship Flight 8 test is currently scheduled to launch no earlier than Monday, March 3, at 6:30 p.m. EST (2330 GMT) from SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Boca Chica Beach in South Texas. As its number suggests, this mission will mark SpaceX’s eighth test flight of the giant rocket. It’s the first launch since an anomaly destroyed SpaceX’s Flight 7 Starship spacecraft, which was doomed by fires that led to its destruction during ascent in January.You’ll be able to watch the Starship Flight 8 launch live on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, in a livestream expected to begin shortly about 40 minutes before liftoff. Follow our Starship live updates for more on the flight and read on for exact timing information that we’ve collected.Currently, SpaceX is aiming for a 6:30 p.m. EST liftoff time on March 3 for the Starship Flight 8 launch. The company has not listed a specific window for the launch, but the company’s Flight 6 test included a 30-minute window. If a similar window is set for Flight 8, the launch could occur anytime between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. EST (2330 to 0000 GMT).The launch date could change in the next few days, so be sure to check back here for any updates. SpaceX has already postponed the flight once. An initial announcement by the company included a Friday (Feb. 28) launch target, with the company pushing the flight back three more days without listing a reason.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.SpaceX’s Starship launch system is the world’s tallest and most powerful rocket. Designed to be fully resuable, it stands about 400 feet tall (122 meters) and is made up of a giant Super Heavy booster with 33 Raptor engines on its first stage that is topped with a Ship upper stage powered by six Raptor vacuum engines.The most recent Starship launch was SpaceX’s Flight 7 test flight on Jan. 16, which marked the first flight of a new version of Starship, but the Ship vehicle was lost during ascent due to a propellant leak. It rained debris over the Atlantic Ocean near the Turks and Caicos islands just over 8 minutes after launch.Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!Related: Read our SpaceX Starship and Super Heavy guide for a detailed lookThe first Starship test, Flight 1, launched in April 2023, with SpaceX reaching space for the first time with Flight 3 in March 2024. In October 2024, SpaceX captured its first Super Heavy booster with the metal “chopsticks” arms of its Mechazilla gantry on Flight 5, a feat the company repeated on Flight 7 last month.If you can’t get to South Texas and are worried about missing SpaceX’s Flight 8 launch, have no fear. You’ll be able to watch it live online using one of several livestreams and webcasts that will chronicle the mission. Space.com will even simulcast SpaceX’s livestream in real time here and on our homepage.SpaceX’s Starship Flight 8 webcast will stream live on the company’s X social media account , as well as its Flight 8 mission page. The livestream should begin about 40 minutes before liftoff, at 5:50 p.m. EST (2250 GMT). It’s this webcast that Space.com will simulcast on our VideoFromSpace YouTube channel and on this page.NASASpaceflight.com is offering its own livestream YouTube. The channel also offers 24/7 live views of SpaceX’s Starship preparations and Starbase operations.If you live near SpaceX’s Starbase or plan to travel to see the launch, you can find areas for in-person launch viewing.The public beach along South Padre Island, near the Cameron County Amphitheater and Isla Blanca Park, is a great place to watch the launch with other spectators. Other viewing areas can be found along the shore of nearby Port Isabel, though do plan ahead as traffic can be heavy close to launch time.SpaceX’s Flight 8 Starship test flight is expected to attempt to replicate the planned Flight 7 mission and should last just over 66 minutes from launch to splashdown.”The upcoming flight will fly the same suborbital trajectory as previous missions and will target objectives not reached on the previous test, including Starship’s first payload deployment and multiple reentry experiments geared towards returning the upper stage to the launch site for catch,” SpaceX wrote in a mission overview. “The flight also includes the launch, return, and catch of the Super Heavy booster.”If all goes well, the Super Heavy booster will return to the Starbase launch pad to be captured by SpaceX’s Mechazilla arms about 7 minutes after liftoff. SpaceX could wave off that catch attempt if anything looks off, directing the Super Heavy to a controlled splashdown offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. (President Trump has signed an executive order renaming the body of water the Gulf of America.)The Ship vehicle, meanwhile, will continue flying for the next hour. It is expected to perform a payload deployment test about 17 minutes into the flight, followed by a Raptor engine relight demonstration before reentering Earth’s atmosphere.The Flight 8 Ship is scheduled to make a controlled “landing” in the Indian Ocean at the 1-hour, 6-minute mark, then splash into the ocean. If SpaceX replicates previous flights, that drop zone would be somewhere west of Australia.TIME (Hr:Min:Sec)EVENTT-1:15:00Flight director poll for fuel loadingT-0:45:59Starship liquid oxygen loading beginsT-0:42:59Starship liquid methane loading beginsT-0:41:22Super Heavy liquid methane loading beginsT-0:35:35Super Heavy liquid oxygen loading beginsT-00:19:40Super Heavy Raptor engine chilldownT-00:3:20Starship fueling completeT-00:2:50Super Heavy fueling completeT-00:0:30Flight Director GO for launchT-00:00:10Flame deflector activationT-00:00:03Raptor ignition sequence startupT-00:00:00Liftoff (“Excitement Guaranteed,” SpaceX says)TIME (Hr:Min:Sec)FLIGHT EVENTT+00:02Liftoff T+01:02Starship/Super Heavy reach Max QT+02:32Super Heavy main engine cutoffT+02:40Hot-staging separation/Starship Raptor engine ignitionT+02:45Super Heavy boostback burn startupT+03:30Super Heavy boostback burn engine shutdownT+03:32Hot-stage jettisonT+06:37Super Heavy landing burn startupT+06:57Super Heavy landing burn shutdown and catch tryT+08:44Starship engine cutoffT+00:17:24Payload deploy demoT+00:37:28Starship engine relight demonstrationT+00:47:22Starship reentryT+01:03:05Starship transonicT+1:04:20Starship is subsonicT+1:06:04Landing flipT+1:06:06Landing burnT+1:06:26″An exciting landing!” SpaceX says.— Explosion of Starship Flight 7 traced to fires in rocket’s ‘attic,’ SpaceX says— Starship and Super Heavy: SpaceX’s Mars transportation system— China planning to build its own version of SpaceX’s StarshipIf SpaceX can’t launch Starship Flight 8 on March 3, the company could have options to try again over the next few days.According to a public advisory from Cameron County officials overseeing the region of South Texas that includes SpaceX’s Starbase, road and beach closure alerts for Boca Chica Beach are in place for launch day, with “alternative days” on March 4 and March 5. Those closures run from from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. local time for all days, suggesting that SpaceX may have at least three opportunities to launch Flight 8.SpaceX has said that any backup launch attempt can depend on how far the company gets in the fueling process for Starship and Super Heavy. The company has said in the past that it can take several days to restock the more than 10 million pounds of super-cold liquid methane and liquid oxygen propellant needed for launch.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.Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com’s Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.Private Athena moon lander beams home gorgeous views of Earth from space (photos)NASA must ‘consider alternatives’ to put Artemis astronauts on the moon, experts tell US CongressWhy the northern lights seem more frequent than ever — from solar science to smartphone snapshots
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