Livestream: Musk’s “Starship” with the third attempt – start delayed until 2:25 p.m

The largest rocket system ever built in space history will make a third test flight on Thursday. It should start at 2:25 PM Swiss time. The unmanned ‘Starship’ is expected to be launched from SpaceX’s spaceport in the US state of Texas. A test flight of about an hour and sea landings of both rocket stages are planned.

During an initial test last April, the entire missile system exploded after just a few minutes. During a second test in November, the two rocket stages separated and the upper one continued to fly for a while, but shortly afterwards both exploded separately.

The ‘Starship’ – consisting of the approximately 70 meter long ‘Super Heavy’ booster and the approximately 50 meter long upper stage, also called ‘Starship’ – is intended to enable manned missions to the Moon and Mars. The system is designed so that the spacecraft and rocket can be reused after return to Earth. The system, which is approximately 120 meters long in total, will be able to transport more than 100 tons of freight in the future. NASA wants to take astronauts to the moon with the ‘Starship’. SpaceX hopes to one day reach Mars. (lacquer/sda/dpa)