This will be the ninth test flight for this heavy-lift rocket, a key part of SpaceX’s mission to eventually send humans to Mars and a critical component of NASA’s Artemis Moon program. We’ll be paying closer attention than usual this time given that the last two launches did not go so well. The seventh test flight in January ended with Starship’s upper stage exploding roughly eight-and-a-half minutes after launch. The rocket met a similar fate during its eighth test flight in March. Things went smoothly for its Super Heavy booster, which the 400-foot-tall Mechazilla tower’s “chopstick” arms successfully caught. But toward the end of the upper stage’s ascent burn, six of its nine Raptor engines died, sending the vehicle into a tumble. SpaceX lost contact with Ship 9 minutes after launch, and it exploded shortly thereafter. The incident prompted the FAA to conduct a safety review of Starship. This week, the agency announced that SpaceX is good to go for its next test flight—the ninth so far.

SpaceX announced that it will be testing out some new objectives and experiments during its ninth Starship launch on Tuesday. And one of those experiments is having the booster rocket being used for a second time, which is a first for Starship. The famed 397-foot-tall (121 meter) Starship will take off from the company’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, on Tuesday, SpaceX stated. The launch window will open at 7:30 p.m. ET, for the suborbital test flight.

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