Elon Musk’s company prepares to launch Starship spacecraft into Earth’s orbit for the first timepublished at 12:28 BST
Image source, ReutersElon Musk’s SpaceX company is preparing to launch its Starship spacecraft into Earth’s orbit for the first time.
This is the spacecraft’s 14th flight. Previous tests were suborbital – a flight in which the spacecraft reaches space, but does not travel fast enough or long enough to stay there.
The rocket splits in two shortly after liftoff: the booster, which makes up the lower half, will fall back to Earth about seven minutes after launch and land in the Gulf of Mexico.
During the 10-hour flight, Starship will aim to complete approximately six orbits around Earth and deploy Starlink V3 satellites, before crashing into the Pacific Ocean, west of Chile.
Musk hopes to revolutionize space travel by eventually making Starship the world’s first fully reusable launch vehicle.
He also hopes the spacecraft will one day carry its crew to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Today, it is not equipped.
Previous test flights have not all gone smoothly with several incidents in 2025, including the rocket exploding into a giant fireball on its stand in June. Recent tests have been more successful.
The launch window opens at 07:15 local time, with a current target of 07:46 liftoff (1:46 p.m. BST), at Starbase in Texas – you can watch live here.
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