SpaceX launch: How to watch Starship liftoff live today

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is conducting the biggest rocket launch in history – and you can follow along live.

The company’s Starship rocket is one day expected to carry humans to the Moon and onto Mars. But first it will conduct its first ever orbital test, flying up from its launchpad in Texas and travelling all the way around Earth.

Mr Musk says the launch is as likely to fail as succeed. And he is “guaranteeing excitement” for anyone following along.

The company is also making it easy to do so by offering a live stream that will capture all of the journey – as well as the preparation and analysis once it is done.

You can watch that live on YouTube, as well as following along with The Independent’s live coverage. Full details are below.

What time will the rocket launch?

The launch is scheduled for 8am local central time, which is 9am eastern or 2pm in the UK; the launch window allows for time either side of that, but SpaceX confirmed it was targeting that time in a tweet. It is expected to take about 90 minutes.

You can find everything you need to know about that launch – and the rest of the journey – here.

How to follow live

SpaceX will be offering its own live stream, which you can find on its website here. It is also usually available directly on YouTube.

The live stream will begin around 45 minutes before launch. If everything progresses on schedule, that should mean that it will begin around 8.15am eastern time, or 1.15pm in the UK.

SpaceX also uses Twitter heavily, especially before and after the live stream, providing new updates on its plans and what is happening. You can find the company’s account here.

You can also follow everything – before and after – on The Independent’s live blog, here.