SpaceX Launch Today: How to Watch the Historic Liftoff Live & 5 Key Facts You Need to Know

SpaceX’s Starship megarocket could roar back to life as soon as Tuesday, May 27, with liftoff targeted for 7:30 p.m. ET (6:30 p.m. CT) from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cleared the vehicle’s ninth integrated test flight on May 22, green-lighting the mission after completing its review of Flight 8’s mishap and expanding debris-hazard zones to boost public safety. Starship stands 397 feet tall and packs 16.7 million pounds of thrust, making it the most powerful launch vehicle ever built. Tuesday’s flight will again pair the Super Heavy booster (Booster 14) with the Starship upper stage (Ship 29) for an attempted full-stack launch, ascent to near-orbital velocity, and controlled splashdowns of both stages—Super Heavy in the Gulf of Mexico and Starship in the Pacific. When is the next SpaceX launch? • Target date: Tuesday, May 27, 2025 • Target time: 7:30 p.m. ET (23:30 UTC) • Launch window: 120 minutes • Launch pad: Orbital Launch Mount, Starbase, Boca Chica, Texas How to watch the Starship Flight 9 live stream SpaceX will host a 24/7 countdown feed on X (formerly Twitter) and on its YouTube channel, with coverage beginning about 45 minutes before liftoff. NASA Spaceflight, Everyday Astronaut, and several local cameras along South Padre Island will also provide multi-angle live commentary for free. Road closures and local viewing tips Cameron County has scheduled State Highway 4 closures from 4 p.m. to midnight CT on launch day. Best public vantage points are Isla Blanca Park and the South Padre Island Convention Center, roughly five miles northeast of the pad. Arrive early; traffic is expected to back up for kilometres on the only road into the area. Weather and launch probability The 45th Weather Squadron gives a 70 percent chance of acceptable conditions, citing moderate onshore winds and scattered low clouds. The main concerns are upper-level shear and sea-state requirements for the booster landing zone. A backup opportunity exists on May 28 at the same time. Why Flight 9 matters 1. Re-entry heat-shield test: Ship 29 carries an updated hex-tile pattern aimed at reducing hot-spot erosion. 2. Boost-back burn data: Super Heavy will attempt a longer boost-back than Flight 8, gathering critical data for eventual pad landings. 3. Payload pathfinder: A mass simulator inside the nose cone mimics a 150-tonne load, validating structural margins for future cargo and crew flights to the Moon and Mars. 4. FAA milestone: Successful execution could pave the way for up to 25 Starship launches per year, a cadence SpaceX says is necessary to deploy Starlink Gen-3 satellites and meet NASA’s Artemis lunar-lander schedule. Post-launch trajectory and splashdown plan After stage separation at roughly T+2:50, Booster 14 will perform a flip, boost-back, and landing burn, targeting a point 20 km off the Texas coast. Ship 29 will ignite its vacuum Raptor engines, reach about 235 km altitude, and nearly complete an orbit before re-entering over the Pacific, aiming for a controlled splashdown north of Hawaii. What happens if SpaceX scrubs? Because the flight is experimental, even minor issues—range violations, wind constraints, or engine performance flags—can trigger a 24-hour recycle. SpaceX typically needs at least 48 hours to reset and reload propellant; any scrub past May 29 pushes the attempt into June due to orbital-mechanics constraints. Looking ahead Elon Musk has said that Ship 30 and Booster 15 are already stacked in the Mega-Bay for Flight 10, targeting late summer. Additional flights will incorporate a Starlink dispenser ring, while NASA aims to receive a human-rated lunar Starship by 2027. Each incremental test brings SpaceX closer to routine super-heavy launches, a cornerstone for deep-space exploration and point-to-point travel on Earth. Bottom line If all goes as planned on May 27, Starship Flight 9 will mark a pivotal return-to-flight moment, validating hardware upgrades, de-risking future missions, and keeping the dream of affordable interplanetary travel on track—one Raptor roar at a time.