(BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS) — Elon Musk has made no secret of his desire to send humans to Mars, and he wants SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft to be the vehicle that gets them there. But before SpaceX and NASA can send astronauts to the red planet, the company must prove Starship can fly and return safely and reliably.

After two recent Starship flight tests ended with the destruction of the spacecraft, SpaceX hopes the ninth time will be the charm.

SpaceX has scheduled the unmanned ninth test flight of Starship for Tuesday from SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Brownsville, Texas, with a launch window opening at 7:30 p.m. ET.

During Starship’s eighth flight test in early March, several engines shut down unexpectedly about 5 1/2 minutes into the launch, resulting in SpaceX losing control of the craft

See Full Page