SpaceX is set to conduct its first large-scale aircraft test of its starship spacecraft.
The SN8 prototype will try to fly 12.5 km in the air before landing on Earth, but SpaceX boss Elon Musk said it is unlikely to succeed. The technology billionaire said the test was a major milestone in achieving human space travel to Mars over the next few years.
Road closures and FAA clearances and airspace around the SpaceX facility in Clark County, Texas, take place Tuesday, although the exact release time has not yet been announced.
The live stream of the event will be broadcast on SpaceX’s official YouTube channel (below).
Follow all the latest updates here.
SpaceX has updated its live stream. This is still a standard picture, but the news now says: “The starship test plane is now targeting the lift – 4.30pm CST (10.30pm GMT).
It was within 10 minutes.
Anthony Cuthbertson8 December 2020 22:21
The good news is, we’re seeing rocket vending.
Anthony Cuthbertson8 December 2020 22:20
Despite the delay, more than 100,000 people are still waiting to see the live stream.
It has been the same message for hours now: “Teams operating through additional test preparation. Liftoff time DPT. ”
Distant views from the ground in Boca Chicago show little action on the Starship launch pad. It’s more than 1.5 hours until the launch window closes, which is just 30 minutes until we see some vending to give an indication that SpaceX plans to continue with the launch today.
(Labrador)
Anthony Cuthbertson8 December 2020 22:03
Still no word from Kasturi or SpaceX.
It is now 2.5 hours until the window closes.
Anthony Cuthbertson8 December 2020 21:00
As we continue to wait for any news on whether to watch Starship fly today, we can enjoy any animation created by SpaceX showing what a full release will look like one day.
SpaceX says it is “the most powerful rocket in history, capable of carrying humans to the moon, Mars and beyond.”
Anthony Cuthbertson8 December 2020 20:31
A reminder: SpaceX local time is until 5.30pm (11.30pm GMT) to complete the test. At that time, road closures in the local area around the launch site will no longer exist.
Another test window is tomorrow from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
SpaceX has more than three hours to do this today.
Anthony Cuthbertson8 December 2020 19:51
Elon Musk tweets, talking only about starship, not real test flight. There is no update yet on whether this is happening today, but we have passed the time.
Anthony Cuthbertson8 December 2020 19:03
As we wait, Elon Musk recently spoke about his optimism about Starship over the next few years here.
Speaking at the Axel Springer Awards in Germany last week, the SpaceX boss spoke in detail about his plans to transform humanity into a multi-planetary species.
Anthony Cuthbertson8 December 2020 18:33
About 120,000 people are waiting for the stream to start. At one point today there were more than 150,000.
The memory has been making rounds on social media since last week, summarizing the frustration.
(CC)
Anthony Cuthbertson8 December 2020 17:59
SpaceX does not appear to be very close to achieving testing at any point in the past week or release delays.
Today, for the first time, a live stream page appeared on the company’s YouTube page, which originally aired until 8am local time (until 2pm).
It was then reset to the countdown at 10am, but nothing happened when the countdown was over. There is now a message on the screen: “Teams operating through additional testing product. Liftoff time DPT. ”
Anthony Cuthbertson8 December 2020 17:13
