[1/3] Spectators look on as SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft, atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, is prepared for launch from the company's Boca Chica launchpad on an uncrewed test flight, near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. November 17 2023.
Starship is mounted atop its towering Super Heavy rocket booster in what will be the second attempted flight of both vehicles together.
The launch had been scheduled for Friday but was pushed back by a day for a last-minute swap of flight-control hardware.
SpaceX is aiming to at least exceed Starship-Super Heavy's performance during its April 20 test flight, when the two-stage spacecraft blew itself to bits less than four minutes into a planned 90-minute flight.
SpaceX has since reinforced the launch pad with a massive water-cooled steel plate, one of dozens of corrective actions that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration required before granting a launch license on Wednesday for the second test flight.
Persons:
Joe Skipper, SpaceX's, Elon Musk, Artemis, Bill Nelson, Nelson, Musk, Joey Roulette, Steve Gorman, Will Dunham
Organizations:
Boca Chica, REUTERS, blastoff, NASA, Saturn, SpaceX, Reuters, U.S . Federal Aviation Administration, Thomson
Locations:
Brownsville , Texas, U.S, CHICA , Texas, Texas, of Mexico, Boca Chica, Hawaii's, Mars, China, New York, Los Angeles, Boca Chica , Texas