SpaceX launch – live: Starship SN15 ready for lift-off in critical flight over Texas

The launch window is officially open, and will remain open for the next eight hours.

There are currently still cranes on the launch pad, with workers busy removing the chains from Starship SN15’s flaps, so it’s going to be a while yet before we see any action.

Pad clearance also usually comes after Boca Chica Village has been cleared, which still hasn’t taken place yet. Judging by the timelines of previous Starship launch attempts, SpaceX will take at least two more hours from this point before everything is in place for the flight to go ahead.

SpaceX will be hoping for fifth time lucky today, after flight tests of Starship SN8, SN9, SN10 and SN11 all ending in explosions.

Fixes to the Raptor engines have been put in place, as well as improvements to Starship’s Header Tank system, Thrust Puck and avionics. However, future versions of Starship could utilise an innovative catching system that involves arms on the launch tower shepherding the falling rocket into a landing position.

It sounds bizarre but Elon Musk has repeatedly stated this as a viable option. It has led to other, more hair-brained ideas, from Starship fans. Some have even gone to the trouble of rendering them as 3D animations:

There’s just over an hour to go until today’s launch window opens for the Starship SN15 test flight, and the craft is ready and waiting on the launchpad.

The skies over Boca Chica are looking fairly overcast at the moment, but we know from the SN11 test that SpaceX will push on even with zero visibility.

Weather conditions that could pose a problem, however, include heavy wind or rain, or thunder storms.

Forecasts for the next nine hours (the launch window closes at 8pm local time, 2am BST) suggest the clouds will remain but there shouldn’t be any heavy wind or rain. Fingers crossed.

It looks like it’s all systems go for launch tomorrow. Evacuation noticese have been sent to local residents.

SpaceX has cancelled today’s launch attempt. Boca Chica Village resident Mary @BocaChicaGirl confirms that no evacuation will be taking place, therefore no flight test.

The sun has risen over Boca Chica, Texas. We’re now less than two hours away from the launch window opening and the weather is looking good.

If Starship SN15 does lift-off today, it at least won’t be hidden by fog like its predecessor Starship SN11.

Looking ahead at the hourly weather forecast, it looks like much of the same for the rest of the day. There are a few scattered thunderstorms that could disrupt the tail end of the launch window, but hopefully Starship will have already launched and landed by then.

Today’s launch comes just days after a week-long exercise, undertaken by Nasa, the conclusion of which was that humanity lacks the technology to be able to stop a massive asteroid causing untold damage on the planet.

In a tweet, Mr Musk said that the findings showed “One of many reasons why we need larger & more advanced rockets!”

He didn’t mention SpaceX generally or Starship in particular, but he has repeatedly talked of the importance of the rockets for humanity.

Cameron County has updated its website overnight to include road closure notices for today and tomorrow.

The good news it it’s a big eight-hour launch window today. The not-so-good news is that it’s going to be a late one, especially for anyone in Europe.

The window opens at midday local time, which is 7pm BST. SpaceX then has until 8pm local time to get Starship SN15 off the ground.

SpaceX has left it late before in previous high-altitude flight tests of its Starship prototypes, with one taking place with less than an hour left in the launch window. We have at least another eight hours to wait to find out.

There will be no Starship SN15 flight test today, after the Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) was removed for Monday.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration’s website, TFRs are in place for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Cameron County is yet to update its website with road closure notices but these can be posted relatively last minute.

Unusually for a weekend, SpaceX has issued an evacuation alert notice for today. It warns that “space flight activities” between 5am and 7pm could pose a danger to local residents of Boca Chica Village.

For example, a malfunction of some kind could create an “overpressure event” that leads to broken windows. It is the same wording that was used in an alert notice ahead of a Starship SN15 static fire test earlier this week.

There are currently no road closures in place around the Starbase facility in Boca Chica, suggesting that whatever testing is going on is not a flight test.

We’ll let you know if this changes, but as things stand we are expecting a fresh launch attempt as early as Monday.