Scribble

We’ve wrapped up our live coverage for the day. Read more about the launch here, or scroll through the posts below to relive the test flight as it happened.

SpaceX already has more Starships built

A rocket booster and three Starship spacecraft are lined up near massive assembly buildings at SpaceX's Starbase fascilities in South Texas.

Jackie Wattles/CNN

SpaceX is OK with discarding rockets after flight in the early stages of development.

That’s because the company uses a completely different approach to rocket design than, say, NASA. The latter focuses on building one rocket and strenuously designing and testing it on the ground before its first flight — taking years but pretty much guaranteeing success on the first launch.

SpaceX, however, rapidly builds new prototypes and is willing to test them to their breaking point because there’s usually a spare nearby. During a drive by the company’s facilities on Thursday — three Starship spacecraft and one Super Heavy booster could be seen from public roadways.

The launchpad appears to have avoided a "rock tornado"

Members of an unaffiliated cleanup crew pick up debris around SpaceX Starbase after the Starship launch near Brownsville, Texas, on March 14.

Jackie Wattles/CNN

During a visit to the Starship launchpad after Thursday’s test flight, at least a dozen workers in reflective vests could be seen collecting debris, piling pieces into orange buckets.

The launchpad itself appeared to be in good shape. Before SpaceX’s last test flight in November, the company installed a water deluge system designed to shoot more than 300,000 gallons of water up toward the Super Heavy booster to dampen the blow of the vehicle’s massive engines.

SpaceX installed the feature after the first Starship launch in April 2023 tore the pad to bits and created what Elon Musk called a “rock tornado.”

SpaceX competitor Blue Origin offers congratulations on Starship launch

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin congratulated Elon Musk’s SpaceX in a post on X, formerly Twitter, after Starship’s launch on Thursday.

The two billionaires and space industry rivals regularly top lists of the world’s richest people.

In December, Blue Origin’s tourism rocket New Shepard — designed to vault paying customers on brief trips to the edge of space — successfully launched on an uncrewed science mission from a private ranch in western Texas.

And in July 2021, Amazon founder Bezos himself launched into space on an 11-minute ride aboard a Blue Origin spacecraft he funded.

Regulators will oversee routine "mishap investigation"

SpaceX Starship after taking off near Brownsville, Texas, on March 14.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

SpaceX and NASA may be busy cheering all the success achieved during Thursday’s mission, but in the eyes of the Federal Aviation Administration — which licenses commercial rocket launches — the loss of the Super Heavy booster and Starship spacecraft is still considered a setback that has to be thoroughly reviewed.

The FAA routinely oversees mishap investigations when spacecraft are lost during flight. And even though SpaceX knew going into the flight that Starship and Super Heavy likely wouldn’t survive, regulators still need to hash out what happened.

SpaceX and the FAA have had a sometimes contentious relationship, as SpaceX has said the agency’s reviews have taken longer than the company would like, delaying testing.

Musk pledges that Starship will "make life multiplanetary"

Founder and CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk reacted to the latest Starship launch on Thursday, saying the world’s most powerful rocket will “make life multiplanetary.”

He made the short comment with an accompanying photo of the rocket in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, which he owns.

Key context: SpaceX considers the Starship system crucial to its founding mission: to carry humans to Mars for the first time.

And critically, NASA has chosen Starship as the landing vehicle that will ferry its astronauts to the lunar surface on the Artemis III mission, which is slated to take off as soon as September 2026.

Musk also posted a video on X Thursday marveling at the plasma created by the extreme heat and pressure Starship endured as it moved back into the atmosphere.

SpaceX's chief operating officer reacts: "HUGE congratulations"

SpaceX’s longtime chief operating officer, Gwynne Shotwell, shared a mission recap and some celebratory words on the social media platform X.

She also ticked through what Starship and Super Heavy accomplished.

“Clean count (glad the shrimpers could get out in the nick of time!)” she said, referring to a smooth countdown before launch despite some wayward boats encroaching on the launch site and holding things up.
“Liftoff, hot staging, Super Heavy boost back and coast (and likely a couple engines making mainstage during landing burn!)”
“Clean ship ‘insertion’ and coast, payload door cycling and prop transfer demo (to be confirmed!), and ship entry!”

Even though Starship was lost, it reached new heights. Catch up here

Spectators on South Padre Island watch as SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft lifts off, near Brownsville, Texas, on March 14.

Cheney Orr/Reuters

SpaceX’s Starship rocket launched on its third test flight from the Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, and achieved multiple milestones Thursday morning before likely breaking apart.

Get up to speed:

The Starship spacecraft made it to orbital speeds.
Both the Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket booster made it much further into flight than during two previous tests in 2023.
SpaceX completed a propellant transfer demonstration, and Starship’s payload doors were tested. It’s too early to say if they’re wholly successful, as engineers said they need to review some data.
SpaceX did not re-light Starship’s engines as expected, but the webcast offered stunning views of the spacecraft plunging back into the atmosphere.
It’s not clear if the Super Heavy booster landed in one piece.
The Starship spacecraft was destroyed, and SpaceX lost communication earlier than expected. But SpaceX never sought to recover the vehicle; it was intended to crash land.

NASA chief congratulates SpaceX

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson speaks during a NASA briefing in Washington, in September 2023.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson offered cheers to SpaceX for its monumental flight test.

Though the fate of the Starship spacecraft and booster is uncertain, SpaceX never intended to recover either vehicle after this mission.

Even before the flight, SpaceX noted that Starship’s fate wouldn’t be certain, saying only “Excitement guaranteed!”

Remember: Starship is a critical component of NASA’s Artemis program. The spacecraft is the vehicle selected to land US astronauts on the moon as soon as September 2026.

How some of SpaceX's most hardcore fans viewed the launch

Spectators at the Rocket Ranch in Brownsville Texas, on March 14.

Anthony Gomez

Most of the public at today’s launch watched from South Padre Island, which is about five miles away from the launch site across the water.

But one group of hardcore fans got a bit closer to see the rocket, which took off from a launch pad on the southern coast of Texas on Thursday morning.

They gathered at a place aptly named Rocket Ranch — which was created for SpaceX superfans.

The camping site — which is just 20 minutes from the launch pad near Boca Chica Beach — is frequented by hobbyists who follow every Starship development with fervid enthusiasm.

Anthony Gomez, a managing partner at the ranch, is the ringleader of the festivities at Rocket Ranch. Guests at the location take buses carry them from a camping ground out to a viewing site called “The Outpost.” It’s located just 3.8 miles from the launch pad.

People wait together at Rocket Ranch for the launch of the SpaceX Starship in Brownsville, Texas, on March 14.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

The viewing site is so close to the pad that patrons had to sign waivers.

“I voluntarily assume all risks associated with viewing rocket launches on Rocket Ranch property, including the risk of physical and emotional harm,” the waiver reads.

When reached by text on Thursday morning before launch, Gomez said, “Pressure is starting to build as the countdown clock ticks toward the T-0.”

In a followup text after launch, CNN asked Gomez how he and his guests were feeling.

“Better,” he joked, “now that it’s over.”

From Falcon 1 to Starship: How this rocket fits into SpaceX’s grand plans

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket disappears into the clouds after lifting off at the Kennedy Space Center on NASA's PACE mission in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on February 8.

Gregg Newton/AFP/Getty Images

SpaceX has a lot of rockets and a few programs that start with “Star.” To avoid confusion, here’s a quick recap of some of the things this company has built.

Let’s start with the rockets:

Falcon 1: This was SpaceX’s very first rocket, which first reached orbit in 2008. It was retired just a year later as the company turned its focus to larger rockets.
Falcon 9: This is SpaceX’s workhorse rocket. It flies the vast majority of the company’s missions — taking satellites and NASA astronauts to orbit. In 2023 alone, the Falcon 9 has launched more than 70 spaceflights.
Falcon Heavy: This is a scaled-up version of Falcon 9 that SpaceX uses on missions that require a bit more power, such as lofting heavy satellites to distant orbits. The rocket flew three times in 2023.
Starship: Musk has called Starship the “holy grail” rocket, and it is far more powerful than anything SpaceX has built before. He envisions it one day carrying humans to Mars for the first time.

And here are some other notable “Star” references in the commercial space world:

Starlink: This is SpaceX’s space-based internet project that uses thousands of satellites to beam connectivity across the globe.
Starbase: The name SpaceX uses to refer to its facilities in South Texas
Starliner: This is not a SpaceX project at all. It’s an astronaut spacecraft that Boeing is developing.

Starship is lost, but major progress was made

SpaceX lost two key pieces of communication at the same time: Contact with Starlink, SpaceX’s internet service, and with TDRSS — or Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.

Losing both simultaneously hints that Starship may have broken apart.

SpaceX lost both Starship and the Super Heavy booster much earlier during the past two flight tests.

SpaceX routinely frames failures during these early test flights as normal. The goal of these flight tests is to gather crucial data so that engineers can go back and tinker with Starship, improving it for future missions.

SpaceX turns 22 today

Before the SpaceX livestream signed off, the company’s Katie Tice noted that SpaceX is celebrating its 22nd anniversary today as well.

The stream then showed a photo of a small team with founder Elon Musk holding maracas.

She quoted Taylor Swift’s “22” by saying: “I don’t know about you, but I’m feelin’ 22.”

It's not clear if Starship survived reentry

The fate of Starship may be unknown. Teams on the ground lost contact with the vehicle after it plunged back toward Earth and re-entered the atmosphere.

The spacecraft appeared to make it through several crucial milestones. But we don’t know if it made it all the way to the ocean in one piece.

SpaceX is now looking to gather data on all of that, said SpaceX’s Kate Tice.

“So far, all of that has gone really well,” she said. “We were trying to figure out today — how do we get Starship to survive orbital velocity, atmospheric entry? And we hope to find out soon.”

SpaceX’s Dan Huot added:

Starship is in a blackout period

The spacecraft isn’t sharing data right now, said SpaceX’s Dan Huot.

“We’re still waiting to see if we’re gonna get data back from the ship,” he said. “We might be in a bit of a blackout period right now.”

SpaceX confirmed that Starship was reentering Earth’s atmosphere.

But SpaceX engineer Kate Tice cautioned that the vehicle might not make it all the way to its intended landing site in the Indian Ocean.

18,000 small hexagonal tiles are protecting Starship during reentry

Starship's hexagon tiles can be seen as the spacecraft sits on the launchpad in Boca Chica, near Brownsville, Texas on March 13.

Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images

The Starship spacecraft is coated in about 18,000 lightweight, ceramic hexagonal tiles.

The scale-like coating on much of the ship is designed to protect the vehicle from the scorching-hot temperatures it endures as it plunges back into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Starship glows bright red as it re-enters Earth's atmosphere

Starship is plunging back toward Earth. And the live stream just showed a vibrant halo of bright red glowing around the vehicle.

That was plasma — created by the extreme heat and pressure the Starship endures as it moves back into the thick atmosphere.

“The atmosphere is actually doing us a huge favor here by acting as a braking system for Starship,” notes Kate Tice, one of the hosts of SpaceX’s livestream.

SpaceX opts not to reignite Starship's engine

A view of Starship during its test flight on March 14.

From SpaceX

SpaceX has made it through some crucial milestones. But the company just revealed it won’t attempt to reignite Starship’s engines after a half-hour coasting phase.

Starship is on a “pretty steep trajectory,” said Dan Huot, a SpaceX communication manager said. That means Earth’s gravity will rapidly drag Starship back toward Earth, whether or not engines are re-lit.

It’s not clear why SpaceX decided to forgo that test.

Engineers noted a lot of data needs to be evaluated in the hours and days ahead.

SpaceX says it completed the payload door test but needs to conduct "data reviews"

Yet another key milestone was hit during this test flight.

The company shared footage of the checkout. These doors will have to open on future flights if Starship deploys satellites.

But SpaceX engineers said on the webcast they still need to do some “data reviews” on how the door action and the propellant transfer demo went.

SpaceX says the propellant transfer demo is complete

SpaceX just shared on the social media platform X that a propellant transfer demo planned for this flight is finished.

If successful, it’s yet another massive win for the company.

The goal is to move some of the propellant on board the Starship vehicle from one tank to another, according to a December email from NASA explaining the test.

SpaceX engineers designed that demo to begin hashing out how Starship will be refueled on future missions while it’s in orbit. It could take more than a dozen refueling flights to get Starship to the moon.

NASA previously told CNN that SpaceX could receive more than $50 million for completing this test.

SpaceX is turning heads with jazzy hold music

From CNN's Jackie Wattles and Ross Levitt

The SpaceX livestream is turning some heads with its surprising choice in music, which is entertaining listeners as the Starship spacecraft coasts through space before reigniting its engines.

Currently, the song is “Caribbean Cruise” by Werner Tautz.

Thomas Zurbuchen, the former associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA, chimed in about the tunes.

Starship’s goal? Take humans to the moon and Mars

SpaceX — and NASA — have huge goals for this rocket.

NASA wants to use Starship to carry out the final leg of the journey to put astronauts back on the moon for the first time in five decades as part of its Artemis program. The space agency gave SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract in 2021 to get the job done, and it inked another $1 billion deal after that.

Starship is also the linchpin of SpaceX’s goal of getting humans to Mars. The company’s founding purpose is to make humans a multi-planetary species, sending them to live on other planets in case Earth becomes unsuitable for life.

That task would require a truly massive rocket.

Whether that goal is feasible — economically, technologically and politically — remains to be seen. But Musk and SpaceX have garnered a diehard fanbase rallied around the idea.

Other items on the agenda for Starship:

Send paying customers (or space tourists) on trips to deep space. At least one customer — a Japanese billionaire — is already signed up.
Launch batches of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, which beam internet service across the globe.
Potentially launch new scientific instruments, such as space-based telescopes.

Starship cuts its engines, entering a coasting phase

The SpaceX Starship on its test flight.

From SpaceX

The Starship spacecraft made it through its entire engine burn, shutting down its engines about 9 minutes into flight.

The vehicle is traveling at speeds roughly fast enough to enter orbit — but it’s not aiming for orbit today. It’s just on a flight test.

This marks a massive milestone and is undoubtedly a win for SpaceX, which had lost both the spacecraft and rocket booster by this point on both prior test flights.

“We’re farther than we’ve ever been before,” Dan Huot, a SpaceX communications manager said.

The booster just landed — but it's not clear how well it went

The Super Heavy booster just hit the water. Not many of its engines were firing when it hit the water.

SpaceX said it’s working to get a shot of how things went down. This is farther into flight than a Super Heavy booster has previously made it.

On the last two flights, Super Heavy was destroyed mid-air before it had a chance to try out landing maneuvers.

Starship Super Heavy booster is heading back for landing

A screenshot from the SpaceX livestream shows Starship after separating from the Super Heavy booster on March 14.

From SpaceX

The Super Heavy booster that provided the initial thrust of power at liftoff — sending deafening waves of noise across the South Texas launch site — is now heading back for a (hopefully) controlled landing in the ocean.

The Starship spacecraft, meanwhile, is using its own engines to continue propelling itself faster.

The booster will be discarded in the ocean, but SpaceX is hoping to test out some maneuvers on this flight to pave the way for recovering the booster in the future.

The overall goal is to eventually develop a rocket system that can be entirely reused — from top to bottom.

Starship makes it through hot staging

From CNN's Jackie Wattles

The Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket booster just made it through a crucial moment in the mission: stage separation.

That’s when Super Heavy shut down its engines, as the rocket booster has now burned through most of its fuel.

Starship then ignited its own engines and thrust itself away from the Super Heavy booster in a maneuver SpaceX calls “hot staging.”

Hot staging is essentially pushing the Starship booster away from Super Heavy by way of blunt force trauma.

What is "hot staging"?

SpaceX is once again putting Starship through a fascinating test.

It’s called “hot staging,” which is a method for separating the Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket after liftoff when Super Heavy has burned through most of its fuel and is ready to break away.

Almost all rockets go through a process during launch called “stage separation,” in which the bottommost rocket booster diverges from the rest of the rocket or spacecraft.

When SpaceX launches its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, for example, the first-stage booster — or the bottommost portion of the rocket — breaks away from the upper part of the rocket less than 3 minutes into flight.

The Falcon 9 does so using “pneumatic pushers” that are housed within the rocket’s interstage. That’s the black band that can be seen around the middle of the Falcon 9.

Falcon 9 with the black band.

SpaceX

Starship, however, won’t use pneumatic pushers. Instead, the Starship spacecraft will simply fire up its own engines to push itself away from the Super Heavy booster.

Essentially, it’s separation by blunt force trauma.

Starship’s interstage has some large vents installed to direct the blow of the engines — aiming to make this method safe for the booster.

Hot staging was a huge point of interest during the last test flight, as SpaceX hadn’t tried such a method before.

Ultimately, the hot-staging attempt in November appeared to work.

Starship’s next attempt at hot staging should occur 2 minutes and 44 seconds into the mission.

Starships endures Max Q — a key milestone

From CNN's Jackie Wattles

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket just hit “Max Q,” an aerospace term that refers to the point during flight at which a vehicle experiences its maximum dynamic pressure.

Put simply: It’s when the rocket is moving at very high speed, at a time when the atmosphere is still pretty thick, putting a lot of pressure on the vehicle.

We have liftoff!

From CNN's Jackie Wattles

The SpaceX Starship spacecraft lifts off from Starbase in Boca Chica, near Brownsville, Texas, on March 14.

Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images

The Starship spacecraft’s Super Heavy rocket booster just roared to life, giving off a deafening burst of sound across the South Texas landscape.

The Super Heavy booster is packed with 33 massive Raptor rocket engines that give the vehicle its initial burst of power off the launchpad.

The booster will fire for about two minutes and 42 seconds before the upper Starship spacecraft is expected to break away and continue the flight on its own.

Starship's launchpad is as bizarre as it looks

SpaceX’s launchpad at Starbase — the name of the company’s sprawling facility that has popped up by the Gulf of Mexico at the southernmost tip of Texas — has some unique features.

The large metal arms that look like they’re giving the rocket a hug aren’t a typical launchpad feature. SpaceX has a unique plan for this structure, which CEO Elon Musk has dubbed “Mechazilla.”

Eventually, SpaceX hopes these arms will catch the Starship spacecraft mid-air as it flies back home from a trip to space.

SpaceX already has extensive experience recovering the boosters of its Falcon 9 rockets after flight. The Falcon 9 uses its engines, a set of hardware called grid fins, to steer itself, and four legs attached to the base to make a gentle landing back on terra firma or on a seafaring platform called a droneship.

SpaceX has perfected the maneuver, with more than 260 booster landings under its belt. (And that doesn’t even count Falcon Heavy booster landings.)

The main difference for Starship is that — instead of relying on landing legs — SpaceX plans to fly the rocket booster straight into Mechazilla’s giant metal arms, catching it before it hits the ground.

SpaceX won’t attempt to land Starship or the Super Heavy booster today. Both will instead be discarded into the ocean.

But, before it hits the water, SpaceX will attempt to test out a landing maneuver by reigniting Super Heavy’s engines.

Later, the Starship spacecraft may attempt something similar, making use of a belly flop maneuver as it heads in for landing over an hour into its flight.

Winds are a concern heading into launch

Propellant loading is well underway.

“We’re not tracking any issues that are gating us on the hardware side of the vehicle,” said SpaceX’s Dan Huot, a communications manager, during the webcast.

But one thing that could spoil the fun is winds, Huot added.

“The winds have started to pick up,” he said. “We’re still looking to be below our limits, but there could be a hold at T minus 40 seconds just to make sure that the winds are acceptable before we go.”

SpaceX has the ability to hold the countdown clock at any time.

Huot noted that SpaceX could need 24 to 48 hours to reset the Starship for another launch attempt.

Elon Musk: Starship has an 80% chance of reaching orbit

A Tesla Cybertruck is parked on the beach as SpaceX's Starship spacecraft stands on the company's Boca Chica launchpad near Brownsville, Texas, on March 13.

Cheney Orr/Reuters

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is known for many things: Giving unrealistic timelines for delivering on his company’s promises. Staying steeped in controversy. And mapping out bold plans for humanity’s future in the cosmos.

He’s also known to set expectations before SpaceX sets out for one of its historic launches.

Before the last Starship test flight in November, which ended in explosions about 10 minutes into the flight, Musk gave the vehicle only about a 50% chance of success.

This flight has much higher odds, according to Musk’s remarks during an event shared on social media.

On its website, SpaceX also hinted at the uncertain nature of the mission, saying “Excitement guaranteed!”

What to know about Starship's "propellant transfer" demo

This undated handout photo shows SpaceX's Starship atop its Super Heavy booster.

From SpaceX

Starship is aiming to complete a key test during this flight: A propellant transfer demonstration.

It’s set to take place about 24 minutes into the flight. The goal is to move some of the liquid oxygen on board the Starship from one tank to another, according to a December email from NASA explaining the test.

(Super-chilled liquid oxygen — or LOX — is used alongside methane fuel to power the Starship rocket during flight.)

That test is designed to begin hashing out how Starship will be refueled on future missions while it’s in orbit.

Topping off the spacecraft’s fuel will be critical for Starship’s high-profile missions in the future.

When Starship makes a journey to the moon — as it is set to do for NASA under the space agency’s Artemis program — it will have to sit in orbit close to Earth as SpaceX launches separate vehicles that will transport only fuel to the spacecraft.

It may require more than a dozen such refueling launches to top off the Starship spacecraft for a lunar journey.

NASA also told CNN that SpaceX could receive a $53.4 million “tipping point award” for completing the demo.

Starship is the most powerful rocket ever built — by far

From CNN's Jackie Wattles

You may have heard Starship is the biggest rocket ever created. And it is — by a long shot.

Starship stands at nearly 400 feet (121 meters) tall and packs 16.7 million pounds (7,590 tons) of force.

Let’s compare that to some of the other largest rockets ever constructed — past and present.

Falcon Heavy: SpaceX’s own 230-foot-tall (70-meter-tall) rocket that previously held the title for most powerful operational rocket in the world. It has about 5 million pounds of thrust or roughly one-third of Starship’s power.
Saturn V: The famous NASA rocket that powered the Apollo moon landings of the 20th century put out about 7.6 million pounds of thrust at takeoff. That’s still less than half of Starship’s expected power. It stood at about 360 feet (110 meters) tall.
The Space Shuttle: NASA’s workhorse launch system in the post-Apollo era, the shuttle had two solid rocket boosters that gave off about 5.3 million pounds of force at liftoff. It was about 180 feet (55 meters) tall.
Space Launch System: NASA’s new moon rocket, which made its debut launch last year, is currently the most powerful rocket in operation. It produces about 8.8 million pounds of thrust — just over half the Starship’s expected output. It’s 212 feet (65 meters) tall.
Russian N1 rocket: This was Russia’s megamoon rocket of the 20th-century space race. And while it was never operational (all four launch attempts failed), Musk has said it’s the closest relative of Starship’s design. The N1 was expected to give off more than 10 million pounds of thrust at liftoff — still 40% less than Starship.

SpaceX moves launch time to 9:25 a.m. ET

From CNN's Jackie Wattles

SpaceX has once again announced a slight delay in its targeted launch time.

Teams are now working toward a 9:25 a.m. ET (8:25 a.m. CT) launch.

The company said it is moving forward with plans to load the vehicle with propellant. SpaceX will pack about 10 million pounds of liquid oxygen and liquid methane onto the rocket and spacecraft before takeoff.

But the company is still keeping a close eye on wind conditions, according to a post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, which is owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

SpaceX said earlier there was about a 70% chance weather will be clear for takeoff.

SpaceX moves launch time due to wayward boats

From CNN's Jackie Wattles

SpaceX has pushed back its target launch time, saying some boats have wandered into the keep-out zone.

The new target takeoff time was set at 9:02 a.m. ET (8:02 a.m. CT), only to pushed again minutes later to 9:10 a.m. ET (8:10 a.m. CT) .

SpaceX has said the launch window closes at 9:50 a.m. ET.

SpaceX and county officials plead for spectators to stay safe

From CNN's Jackie Wattles

The Starship viewing site is across the water from the launch pad in South Padre Island — a popular tourist destination.

Getting to the actual launch pad would require about an hour-long trip around the bay.

The Texas county where SpaceX’s facilities are located — Cameron County — shuts down the only road that goes out to the launch pad before launch.

A text from the county went out at 2:20 a.m. CT warning the road closure was in place.

SpaceX on Wednesday also sent out a safety advisory to locals:

Boats, planes and land-based spectators are also expected to stay out of designated “keep-out” zones for safety during the launch.

Here's what Starship will do during this test flight

The sun rises at the SpaceX facility in Boca Chica, near Browsville, Texas, on March 13.

Scott Schilke/SipaUSA

SpaceX hasn’t quite been able to get Starship through a test flight yet. The first two attempts to get the rocket to orbital speeds ended in explosions.

But the company is hopeful that the third time will be the charm.

During this test launch, Starship will launch on a different path — taking it on a journey to hopefully make a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. (Previous flights targeted a landing site off the coast of Hawaii.)

If all goes according to plan, Starship will also make it through several key tests.

First, the Super Heavy booster will need to successfully separate from the Starship spacecraft. (That did happen on the last mission, though both the spacecraft and booster were destroyed shortly after.)
The booster should make a controlled landing back in the ocean.
Then, Starship will aim to test its payload door — a hatch that must open for Starship to deploy satellites into space after reaching orbit. The door will swing open before resealing. (There won’t be any actual satellites on board, however. All of this is just for testing.)
About 24 minutes into the flight, Starship will aim to move some of its propellant from one tank to another — another demonstration.
Reignite the Starship spacecraft’s engines after coasting for half an hour.
Land Starship in the ocean.

Starship is a crucial part of the US plan to land astronauts on the moon

From CNN's Jackie Wattles

The crescent moon appears in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on March 13.

Thilina Kaluthotage/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Enabling humans to colonize the cosmos is the ultimate goal for this Starship as it is scheduled to make its third test flight on Thursday — and much is riding on its eventual success: SpaceX intends to use it to send people to the moon, Mars and beyond.

Crucially, the Starship spacecraft is also the vehicle that NASA has selected to land US astronauts on the moon for the first time in five decades as part of its Artemis program.

The space agency is racing against China to get the job done, vying to become the first to develop a permanent lunar outpost and set the precedent for deep-space settlements.

NASA has committed to investing up to $4 billion in Starship. Under the agency’s current road map, Starship would complete the final leg of the agency’s crewed mission to the moon, taking the astronauts from their spacecraft in lunar orbit and ferrying them down to the surface. The first astronaut landing under the Artemis program is slated to occur as soon as September 2026.

SpaceX: Starship has a 70% chance of favorable weather

From CNN's Jackie Wattles

The weather forecast is in, and SpaceX says there’s about a 70% chance that conditions will be good enough to give the final “go” for liftoff.

SpaceX has already pushed the launch time back a little bit in the launch window, aiming for a 7:30 a.m. CT (8:30 a.m. ET) takeoff time.

Starship can take flight anytime between then and 8:50 a.m. CT (9:50 a.m. ET).

A webcast of the launch is expected to take place on X, formerly Twitter, the social media platform owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. The start time for the broadcast has shifted to 7:29 a.m. CT.

A heavy fog rolled through the viewing sites on South Padre Island in the early hours of Wednesday morning, obstructing the line of sight to the launch pad.

Local weather reports say conditions near Starbase are 70 degrees Fahrenheit and windy.

Starship is making a spring break launch near a tourist destination

From CNN's Jackie Wattles

A family from Colorado sun bathes as SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft is prepared for a third launch near Brownsville, Texas, on March 13.

Cheney Orr/Reuters

SpaceX has a big audience for this show.

It happens to be spring break for many Texas schoolgoers. And South Padre Island, a strip of land near Texas’ southernmost tip, has long been a prime destination for party-seekers.

South Padre also happens to be the prime viewing location for SpaceX fans, as a public beach and a couple of hotels on the island offer views of the launch pad.

CNN is covering the mission from the Margaritaville Beach Resort, which was swarming with tourists on Wednesday evening. Live music blared from a beachside restaurant. Pools and bars were flooded with people. The hotel manager said the resort was completely sold out.

Several patrons told CNN they just happened to be in town for vacation — and the Starship launch was an unexpected bonus.

One reason Margaritaville is a prime viewing site is because it happens to be one of the only buildings on South Padre that offers direct views of the launch pad from some south-facing hotel rooms.

All about Starbase, SpaceX's South Texas launch site

Visitors watch SpaceX's rocket Starship being prepared for its third test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on March 13.

Eric Gay/AP

Starbase lies just steps from Boca Chica Beach, the strip of coastline on the Gulf of Mexico that lies at the southernmost tip of Texas.

One road runs in and out of the area: A narrow stretch of asphalt called Boca Chica Highway. The westbound lane includes a US Border Patrol checkpoint.

Before SpaceX moved in, there were only a couple dozen homes nearby in an area called Boca Chica Village.

Most longtime residents have since been pushed out. SpaceX has purchased and painted many of the homes, allowing employees to move in.

And the company’s presence has only grown from there: Rows of airstream trailers provide temporary housing for workers. A small restaurant for employees lies just off the road. And there are colossal buildings and work yards with scraps of rocket bodies lying about.

Some locals are angered to see their once remote beach community overrun by SpaceX employees and rocket construction.

And SpaceX once again drew the ire of environmentalists when the Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission voted to move forward with negotiating a land-swap agreement. The agreement would transfer control of 43 acres of public land near SpaceX’s facilities over to the company. As part of the deal, the commission will also gain 477 acres near the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge.

SpaceX plans to launch its massive Starship rocket Thursday morning

From CNN's Kristin Fisher

A security guard monitors the entrance as SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket is prepared for a third launch from the company's Boca Chica launchpad on an uncrewed test flight, near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. on March 13.

Cheney Orr/Reuters

SpaceX is set to attempt to launch the third flight test of Starship, the most powerful rocket in the world and a critical component of NASA Artemis program.

The company says the launch window will open at 7 a.m. CT (8 a.m. ET) Thursday and close at 8:50 a.m. CT (9:50 a.m. ET). The first two flight tests ended in explosions, or “Rapid Unscheduled Disassemblies” as SpaceX calls it.

The Federal Aviation Administration completed its mishap investigation into the second test flight in February and an environmental assessment of the new splashdown site for the third test flight on Wednesday, a day before the targeted launch date.

That environmental assessment cleared the way for the FAA to issue a launch license to Space X on Wednesday evening, saying in a statement the company “met all safety, environmental, policy and financial responsibility requirements,”

Previous Starship test flights were slated to splash down near Hawaii, but this third attempt will be targeting the Indian Ocean.

SpaceX launches Starship rocket on third test flight