Starship launch: How to watch SpaceX conduct latest test of megarocket from Texas

SpaceX is on the cusp of another test of its Starship vehicle that will be vital for future human space travel, and the public will be able to watch it ? alongside President-elect Donald Trump, who is planning to attend the launch with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

As of last week, the giant 400-foot megarocket had been rolled out to the launch pad SpaceX's Starbase in Boca Chica near Brownsville, Texas as preparations were underway for the planned Tuesday flight.

The Starship is due to play a vital role in NASA's lunar ambitions amid a heated international space race to get back to the moon. As part of the U.S. space agency's ambitious Artemis campaign, its first lunar program since the Apollo era of the 1970s, NASA is paying SpaceX $4 million to develop a spacecraft capable of safely transporting astronauts from orbit to the moon's surface.

Musk also envisions the Starship as being the vehicle that will take humans to eventually colonize Mars. Musk has previously stated his vision of sending the first Starships to Mars in late 2026, the next time that Earth and Mars line up, followed by crewed flights in 2028.

In its sixth test, the Starship itself is due to fly a similar trajectory over the Gulf of Mexico as in previous flights before landing for the third straight time in the Indian Ocean. As for the booster, SpaceX officials hope to replicate what they did for the first time in the previous test, steering it back autonomously to the landing pad before catching it with two giant mechanical arms.

Here's what to know about when and how to watch the launch.

Starship launch: Megarocket to fly for 6th time from SpaceX's Starbase in Texas

What time is the Starship launch?

SpaceX said on social media platform X last week that Starship's sixth flight test could launch as soon as Tuesday , Nov. 19.

The 30-minute launch window will open at 5 p.m. EST, according to SpaceX.

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

How to watch the Starship launch

SpaceX will host a livestream of the flight test that will begin about 30 minutes before liftoff.

The webcast is available on its website and on social media platform X. Coverage will also be available on SpaceX's on 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 stay tuned to our X account for updates," SpaceX said.

What is SpaceX's Starship?

SpaceX has spent years developing and testing the Starship, which is classified as a super heavy-lift launch vehicle and is lauded as the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built.

The entire craft features two components: The 165-foot Starship spacecraft itself, and the 232-foot "Super Heavy" rocket it's perched atop. SpaceX envisions the powerful spacecraft being a fully reusable transportation system that can carry both humans and cargo to Earth's orbit, the moon and even Mars.

What happened in Starship's previous test flights?

Since April 2023, Starship has undergone five test flights.

While the rocket's first three tests ended in explosions, officials say it has improved in every demonstration they've conducted with the vehicle. The explosions came to an end in its fourth and fifth test flights when Starship managed to land successfully in the Indian Ocean in both June and October.

One of the biggest leaps in progress also came in the last flight test when SpaceX mission controllers not only returned the rocket booster to the launch site, but snatched it out of the air with two giant mechanical arms, nicknamed "chopsticks."

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

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SpaceX Starship launch: Date, time, how to watch test flight live