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What time is SpaceX's Starship Flight 9 launch on May 27?
• https://www.space.com, By Tariq MalikSpaceX has unveiled the target date for its next Starship megarocket launch, hoping the third time will be the charm after two failures earlier this year. But if you plan to watch the launch live, you'll need to know when to tune in and for that, space fans, we've got you covered.
The Starship Flight 9 launch, as it's called, is scheduled to launch no earlier than Tuesday, May 27, at 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT) from SpaceX's Starbase test site near Boca Chica Beach in South Texas. Like its name suggests, this will be the ninth test flight of the giant SpaceX rocket, but it is the first to attempt to reuse the giant Super Heavy booster, the first stage of Starship.
It comes after two failed launches this year, Flight 7 and Flight 8, in January and March, respectively. On those flights, SpaceX successfully returned its Super Heavy booster to Earth in back-to-back rocket catches at with giant chopsticks, but the Ship stage of the rocket failed shortly after liftoff.
SpaceX is currently targeting a 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT) launch time for Flight 9 on May 27, but that time could shift depending on the vehicle's status. It will be 6:30 p.m. local time in Texas. SpaceX has not listed a specific window for the flight, but has followed 30-minute windows in the past, which could put the launch anytime between 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. EDT (2330-0000 GMT), if the company does so again.
The launch date, itself, is a no earlier than date, but local officials for the area around SpaceX's Starbase have announced road closures for the area through May 29, suggesting back up days on May 28 and May 29 are possible.
If you can't see SpaceX's Starship in person, you can score a model of your own. Standing at 13.77 inches (35 cm), this is a 1:375 ratio of SpaceX's Starship as a desktop model. The materials here are alloy steel and it weighs just 225g.
SpaceX is being extra careful with this launch to test the reuse of its massive Super Heavy booster. The booster on Flight 9 was use to launch the Flight 7 Ship in January, with only four of its 33 Raptor engines being replaced for this mission.
The entire Starship vehicle, when assembled, stands about 400 feet (122 meters), making it the world's largest and most powerful rocket. It is designed to be fully reusable to enable trips to low Earth orbit, the moon (NASA's picked Starship to land Artemis astronauts in 2027), and ultimately fly to Mars.