Starship launch at Boca Chica Beach moved to Tuesday

SpaceX has pushed back the sixth test flight of Starship to Tuesday, though the scheduled launch time remains the same, with a 30-minute test window beginning at 4 p.m.

The company plans a second attempt at catching the Super Heavy booster (with two movable arms attached to the launch tower) as it lands, as was done successfully with the first booster catch attempt during Flight 5 on Oct. 13.

The Oct. 13 attempt was nearly a failure, however, according to audio inadvertently posted to X by SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk on Oct. 25, in which a SpaceX employee is overheard discussing “scary s—t that happened” in the seconds before the booster was caught, due to a problem with one of the systems.

“We were one second away from … telling the rocket to abort and try to crash into the ground next to the tower,” the employee was overheard saying.

SpaceX said data generated during the fifth flight and booster catch would be used to make hardware and software improvements for Flight 6. The company said that for the sixth flight it also planned to try re-igniting one of Starship’s six engines in space and test a “suite of heat-shield experiments and maneuvering changes for (Starship) reentry and descent over the Indian Ocean.”

SpaceX said a second booster catch attempt will be made contingent upon “healthy systems on the booster and tower” and a final, manual command from the mission flight director. Failing that, the booster will “default to a trajectory that takes it to a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, the company said.

“We accept no compromises when it comes to ensuring the safety of the public and our team, and the return will only take place if conditions are right,” SpaceX said.

On Monday SpaceX issued a loud-noise advisory to residents living near the company’s Cameron County facility.

“At the time of launch, the rocket’s 33 Raptor engines may be audible while firing upon ignition and as the vehicle launches toward space,” SpaceX said. “About eight to ten minutes after liftoff, the Super Heavy booster may attempt, if strict conditions are met, a return to launch site and tower catch on the pad at Starbase. Residents of Cameron County and those in the nearby area may hear one or more sonic booms during the return to launch site.”

The company described a sonic boom as a “brief, thunder-like noise a person on the ground hears when an aircraft or other vehicle in the area flies faster than the speed of sound.”

The noise presents no health risk, SpaceX said, adding that the noise level residents experience will depend on “weather and other conditions.”

A webcast of the Tuesday launch will go live approximately 30 minutes before liftoff at spacex.com/launches. Live updates will also be available on X @SpaceX.

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