<\/p>\n
The latest version of SpaceX’s\u00a0Starship mega-rocket is rolled out to the launch pad Tuesday in preparation for a test flight set for Thursday evening from Starbase in South Texas.<\/p>\n
Eric Gay\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Weather could hinder SpaceX plans to launch its next-generation Starship<\/a> from South Texas tonight<\/a>.<\/p>\n A 90-minute launch window opens at 5:30 p.m. Central, but scattered storms have Elon Musk\u2019s space firm predicting only a 55% chance<\/a> that weather will cooperate for the mega-rocket\u2019s 12th test flight.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n SpaceX has Starship stacked on its Super Heavy booster\u00a0at the launch tower and completed a round of testing Wednesday.<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s company has a lot riding on mission<\/p>\n \u201cStarship Rising,\u201d<\/a> Musk said in a comment on X in response to a\u00a0SpaceX post with images of the spacecraft and its builders. \u201cThese vehicles are the first of many\u00a0\u2014 made possible by the tireless effort of\u00a0SpaceX engineers and technicians\u00a0\u2014 and are designed to enable the core revolutionary capabilities of Starship,\u201d it said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The mission comes as the company prepares to go public<\/a> as soon as June 12 and, according to registration documents filed Wednesday, the 400-foot-tall rocket is critical to the space firm\u2019s success, underpinning plans to rapidly grow its\u00a0Starlink satellite internet network, satellite-to-mobile connectivity and eventually a constellation of AI data center satellites.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n San Antonio Express News Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source on Google to see more of us when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n COUNTDOWN: SpaceX plans massive IPO as losses mount, with its future hinging on Starship<\/a><\/p>\n Musk and company need a win as pressure is mounting from NASA for the rocket to meet timelines under the Artemis program to\u00a0return to the moon. NASA has invested about $4 billion in Starship, which is set to be part of the Artemis III mission<\/a> now projected to launch next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n What SpaceX plans to test<\/p>\n The planned flight will be the first for the\u00a0third generation<\/a> of Starships and the project\u2019s first flight since October<\/a>, when a second-generation Starship released a batch of dummy\u00a0Starlink satellites and returned to Earth for a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n SpaceX has been upgrading the spacecraft and its two Starbase launch towers as it prepares for as many as 25 flights a year from its border complex near Boca Chica Beach.<\/p>\n According to the company, the flight will resemble past missions, with the goal of operating the redesigned components \u201cin the flight environment for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n After propelling the upper-stage Starship to space, the rocket\u2019s 20-story-tall booster will return for a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX won\u2019t try to land the booster back at the launch tower as it has in the past because it \u201cis the first flight test of a significantly redesigned vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Worker dies in accident at SpaceX\u2019s Starbase complex; OSHA investigating<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Releasing more satellites<\/p>\n While in space, Starship will attempt to release 20 dummy\u00a0Starlink satellites and two \u201cspecially modified\u201d Starlinks. Starlink is the\u00a0company\u2019s biggest moneymaker<\/a> for three years running and is expected to generate $20 billion in revenue this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n The two modified satellites \u201cwill scan Starship\u2019s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to test methods of analyzing Starship\u2019s heat shield readiness for return to launch site on future missions,\u201d SpaceX said.<\/p>\n The company also has removed one of the craft\u2019s heat tiles to see what happens to adjacent tiles when one is missing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n CAJUN STARSHIP? Is Musk\u2019s SpaceX angling for its own Louisiana Purchase?<\/a><\/p>\n Like past flights, SpaceX will test the craft\u2019s heat shield, engines and flight controls during the mission, including stressing \u201cthe structural limits of the vehicle\u2019s rear flaps and a dynamic banking maneuver to mimic the trajectory that future missions returning to Starbase will fly.\u201d<\/p>\n Starship is expected to splash down in the Indian Ocean about an hour and five minutes after liftoff. \u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n How to watch<\/p>\n SpaceX plans to provide a live webcast of the test flight beginning about 45 minutes before liftoff on its website<\/a>, on the X social media channel<\/a> and the X TV app.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The latest version of SpaceX’s\u00a0Starship mega-rocket is rolled out to the launch pad Tuesday in preparation for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[933,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-303202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-austinlatest","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n