Skip to main content

SpaceX’s recent Starship rocket launch captured in space station video

Views of Starship Flight 6 from International Space Station

NASA has shared a cool snippet of video captured from the International Space Station (ISS) that shows the recent SpaceX launch of the Starship, the world’s most powerful rocket.

Recommended Videos

SpaceX launched the Starship on its sixth test from its Starbase site in Boca Chica, Texas, on November 19, as part of continued testing of the new mega rocket.

A couple of days after the November flight, space station astronaut Don Pettit shared a photo of the launch as seen from space. And now we have some footage, too. Shot from around 250 miles away, it’s not the best quality, but you can clearly see the mighty Starship heading skyward, with the Texas coastline and Gulf of Mexico also in the frame.

“While orbiting approximately 250 miles above Earth, external cameras aboard the International Space Station captured the sixth test flight of SpaceX’s Starship after liftoff at 4 p.m. CST on Tuesday, November 19,” NASA said in text accompanying its YouTube post.

It added: “For Artemis III, the first crewed return to the moon in over 50 years, NASA is working with SpaceX to develop Starship as a lunar lander. Prior to the crewed Artemis III mission, SpaceX will perform an uncrewed landing demonstration mission on the moon.”

SpaceX’s 120-meter-tall machine consists of two parts — the main-stage Super Heavy booster, which packs a record-breaking 17 million pounds of thrust at launch, and the upper-stage Starship spacecraft, which will one day carry crew and cargo on adventures not only to the moon, but quite possibly to Mars and beyond, too. Collectively, the vehicle is known as the Starship.

The sixth test was deemed a success, though a last-minute issue meant that it didn’t get to attempt the spectacular “catch” maneuver that it achieved in the fifth test when giant mechanical arms on the launch tower secured the Super Heavy booster as it returned to Earth after deploying the Starship spacecraft to orbit.

Returning the booster in this way allows SpaceX to quickly refurbish and reuse the booster for multiple flights, helping it to significantly reduce the cost of space missions. SpaceX already does this with its much smaller Falcon 9 rocket, though in this case, the first stage lands on the ground or on a barge rather than being secured by mechanical arms before it touches down. The Super Heavy’s landing method allows SpaceX to build the booster without landing legs, reducing the vehicle’s weight for better flight efficiency.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
SpaceX just called off Wednesday’s crewed launch to the ISS
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket waits to launch the Ax-4 mission to the space station.

SpaceX has just announced that it’s standing down from tomorrow’s Falcon 9 launch of Axiom Space’s Ax-4 crew to the International Space Station (ISS). A new target launch date has yet to be announced.

In a post on X on Tuesday evening, SpaceX said its engineers need more time to repair the liquid oxygen leak identified during earlier booster inspections, and therefore would not be launching on June 11. Another plan to launch Ax-4 was also called off 24 hours earlier due to strong winds in the ascent corridor.

Read more
SpaceX is about to launch 4 humans to orbit. Here’s how to watch
The International Space Station.

The Texas-based astronaut mission company Axiom Space is again partnering with SpaceX to launch four astronauts from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff of the Ax-4 mission is targeted for Tuesday, June 24.

The crew will head to the International Space Station (ISS), where they’ll spend around two weeks living and working alongside the orbital outpost's current inhabitants.

Read more
Watch this SpaceX rocket launch on 15th anniversary of first Falcon 9 liftoff
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches on the 15th anniversary of the first Falcon 9 launch.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket roared skyward on Wednesday on what was also the 15th anniversary of the first-ever Falcon 9 launch.

The anniversary mission launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, deploying 27 Starlink internet satellites to low-Earth orbit.

Read more