After much delay, SpaceX is finally looking set for its fourth major flight test of its Starship craft heading to Mars today.
Starship SN11 is already on the starting lineup at the company’s Boca Chica facility in Texas and has completed a static fire test in preparation for a 10km launch attempt.
It comes just over three months after the first high-flying flight of Starship trades, with SN8, SN9 and SN10 launches all ending in an explosion.
A successful launch and landing today will be a major step towards Elon Musk’s desire to settle Mars with hundreds of Starships.
We’ll have an official SpaceX stream of the event as soon as it goes live, as well as the latest updates below.
The team at NasaSpaceFlight also has a great camera and team on the ground, their stream is already live on YouTube.
Starship SN11 is currently in the aftermath of the static fire test, which is a good sign that things are heading into a flight test today.
Anthony CuthbertsonMarch 26, 2021 13:45
The SN11 Starship test comes just over three weeks after the last SN10 was launched and landed. He was very successful and accomplished what his predecessors could not by landing, but about eight minutes later they made an unorganized quick disassembly.
You can read the full report on that exam here:
Anthony CuthbertsonMarch 26, 2021 13:44
Prior to today ‘s launch attempt SpaceX had to complete a final static fire test, which occurred very early in the morning.
There are now 11 hours left in this launch window for SpaceX to complete the flight test. The times listed on the Cameron County road closure notice are local time (12 pm-12pm GMT Saturday).
(Cameron County)
Anthony CuthbertsonMarch 26, 2021 13:31
Hello and welcome to The Independentlive broadcast of SpaceX’s Starship SN11 flight test.
This is the fourth high-altitude beast for the craft heading to Mars, with the previous three attempts culminating in a fire explosion.
The latest release has been much delayed but now the weather is clear, local roads are closed, FAA permission has been sought, and it is rumored that today is the day.
Anthony CuthbertsonMarch 26, 2021 13:12