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STARBASE, Texas — After nearly three years of launching rockets from South Texas, SpaceX is preparing for a launch that could change everything.
On Friday afternoon, the launch window for Starship 15 started at 4:47 p.m. CST. The mission isn’t just about what goes up, but what’s coming down.
SpaceX says it plans to do something it hasn’t accomplished before. It plans to launch the rocket and spacecraft, and then have them both return to the pad, instead of the ocean where they would become unusable.
It is a flight that has attracted people to South Texas. On Thursday, 13 spoke to visitors from other parts of Texas, North Carolina, and Connecticut for the launch, including Randall Folsom.
“It’s just stunning to me,” Folsom said. “I’ve been watching it for years on TV. To me, being able to launch something that big, that complicated, catch it, that’s the holy grail of rocketry, right?”
Catching the vehicle is critical because it could mean the system is reusable. Currently, NASA rockets aren’t reusable.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk told the audience at the X Takeover 2025 event that’s how it goes for rocket launches.
“If every time you drove somewhere you had to throw away the car, you’d be ‘Wow, that’s a crazy car where you have to throw away after every time you drive it.’ But that’s how it works for rockets,” Musk told the crowd.
A reusable rocket, the company says, would greatly reduce the cost of space travel. This afternoon, they’re going to see if it’s possible.
SpaceX will attempt to catch both the booster and ship. However, they say that won’t happen at the same time.
The company said that about six minutes after launch, they’ll attempt to catch the booster. As for the ship, the company is sending it into orbit for nearly 24 hours.
Once it’s circling the globe, the company says Starship will then deploy 26 Starlink V3 satellites, adding capacity to SpaceX’s orbital communications network.
SpaceX says the plan for Saturday is to send the ship back to South Texas, where it hopes to catch it at the pad in Starbase.
13’s Nick Natario is in South Texas for Friday’s launch. He’ll have live coverage in the afternoon on 13.
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