November 20, 2024 at 4:19 AM SpaceX aborted an attempt to catch its Starship rocket on Tuesday in a blow to Elon Musk’s Mars ambitions. The sixth Starship flight test saw SpaceX once again attempt to catch the rocket’s Super Heavy booster using “chopstick” arms at the launch tower at the company’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. Measuring 120-metres-tall, Starship is the biggest rocket ever built, capable of carrying up to 100 people. SpaceX hopes to use it to ferry crew and cargo across the solar system, aiming to establish a permanent human colony on Mars by 2050. Tuesday’s launch was uncrewed, with the failed catch of the booster followed by a successful splashdown of the upper stage Starship rocket in the Indian Ocean. Other objectives for the mission were also completed, including a first in-space burn using a single Raptor engine. The 30-minute launch window opened at 4pm local time (10pm GMT), with a live stream broadcast beginning 40 minutes before lift-off. Key points Man arrested for trespassing on SpaceX facility Tuesday 19 November 2024 21:21 , Anthony Cuthbertson A man has been arrested for allegedly trespassing on SpaceX property, according to local media reports. The 40-year-old man managed to bypass security measures to enter SpaceX’s facilities in Brownsville, Texas, but was detained after security officers alerted police. The incident won’t have any impact on today’s launch attempt. Propellant load of Starship’s Super Heavy booster underway Tuesday 19 November 2024 21:27 , Anthony Cuthbertson SpaceX has just confirmed that propellent load of Starship’s Super Heavy booster is underway. It’s T-minus 30 minutes until launch. SpaceX plans to build a new Starship ‘every eight hours' Tuesday 19 November 2024 21:37 , Anthony Cuthbertson Elon Musk has previously spoken of his ambition to build a fleet of hundreds of Starships every year in order to ferry thousands of people throughout the solar system. SpaceX has just revealed that it is currently in the process of hiring engineers to meet its goal of building a new Starship rocket “every eight hours”. This is an unprecedented task, with each rocket measuring 121 metres. It is the biggest rocket ever built - here’s how Starship stacks up against other massive rockets. Musk welcomes Trump to Texas Tuesday 19 November 2024 21:41 , Anthony Cuthbertson We’re getting the first images of SpaceX boss Elon Musk welcoming President-elect Donald Trump to watch today’s launch. It is not the first SpaceX launch that Trump has attended, having previously watched the firm’s first crewed flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida, during his first presidential term. The pair weren’t so close as they are now, with Musk hoping that his strong support for Trump during his campaign will translate into favourable regulation and government funding for his Mars ambitions. Donald Trump and Elon Musk await the test flight of the SpaceX Starship in Texas on 19 November, 2024 (Reuters) SpaceX says to expect problems Tuesday 19 November 2024 21:51 , Anthony Cuthbertson With just 10 minutes to go until launch, there’s already more than 1.5 million people watching the live stream. It should be a similar sight to Starship Flight 5 last month, though SpaceX has warned that it will be pushing the craft to its limit in order to intentionally discover any potential issues with the rocket. “We’d much rather find the bugs and limits now during testing [rather] than later when there’s more on the line,” says SpaceX’s commentator. (SpaceX)