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SpaceX live updates: Team fueling up Starship rocket for launch

Written by on April 20, 2023

SpaceX live updates: Team fueling up Starship rocket for launch
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

(BOCA CHICA, Texas) — SpaceX will attempt a second launch of its Starship rocket after the first launch attempt was scrubbed due to a frozen valve in the pressurization system.

The launch will take place at the company’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas — about 20 miles east of Brownsville — with a 62-minute window opening at 9:28 a.m. ET. A live webcast will begin 45 minutes before liftoff.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Apr 20, 9:23 AM EDT
What Starship’s journey will look like

For this first flight test, SpaceX said Starship will not attempt a vertical landing of Starship or a catch of the booster.

If successful, Starship and its rocket, which is called Super Heavy, will head up to the skies and 33 Raptor engines will ignite simultaneously. About eight minutes after liftoff, Super Heavy will splash down in the Gulf of Mexico.

Meanwhile, the spacecraft will travel about 150 miles — partially around the Earth — and then splash down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii about 90 minutes after liftoff.

There will be a 62-minute window opening at 9:28 a.m. ET. A live webcast began 45 minutes before liftoff.

Apr 20, 8:45 AM EDT
Starship rocket is being loaded

SpaceX is fueling its Starship rocket — the world’s larger spacecraft — as it attempts a second launch.

The first launch attempt was scrubbed Monday due to a frozen valve in the pressurization system.

“The Starship team is go for prop load; team is keeping an eye on the weather,” SpaceX said in a tweet.

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