SpaceX launching Super Heavy-Starship on 9th test flight today after last 2 went down in flames
CBSN
With Federal Aviation Administration approval, SpaceX readied a gargantuan 400-foot-tall Super Heavy-Starship for its 9th test flight Tuesday — a launch featuring multiple upgrades in the wake of spectacular back-to-back upper stage failures during the previous two flights in January and March.
Company founder Elon Musk planned to provide a post-launch update on his long-range plans to "make life multi-planetary," presumably outlining the role the Super Heavy-Starship will play in eventual flights to Mars. He originally planned to speak before the latest launch but decided, without explanation, to hold it up until after the flight.
The huge rocket's launching, known as "Integrated Flight Test 9," was targeted for liftoff at 7:30 p.m. EDT from SpaceX's sprawling Boca Chica, Texas, manufacturing-and-flight facility, known as Starbase, on the Texas Gulf Coast.
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