What this is
This is a practice flight. SpaceX is flying a Starship from SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA to learn whether the rocket behaves. The cargo matters, and so does the simple question: did it work?
SpaceX is flying a Starship from Orbital Launch Pad 2, SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA. Mission: Flight 13. 13th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. Second flight of Starship V3. For the first time, Starship will carry 20 V3 Starlink satellites to space, which will extend solar arrays and antennas and will attempt to connect with ground stations in South Africa and the larger Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers. 6 of the satellites have been modified with a suite of cameras to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to continue testing methods of analyzing Starship’s heat shield readiness for on future missions. Several tiles on Starship have been painted white to simulate missing tiles and serve as imaging targets in the test. Planned orbit: Suborbital. Status: Launch Successful. The launch vehicle successfully inserted its payload(s) into the target orbit(s). The published time can still slip. Rockets wait for weather, boats, and the range.
From here
Too far to see
You will not see this rocket from Centennial, Colorado. It is about 1,039 miles southeast. The broadcast is the view.
That is too far for the flame and, for almost every launch, too far for the high-altitude plume. Dim the lights and watch together anyway.
