Here are some pictures from the newswires of Elon Musk arriving at the site of the launch in Brownsville, Texas with Donald Trump.

The weather is looking “fantastic” for the rocket launch, a SpaceX employee said.

“Light breeze, no clouds in the sky,” he said.

Beyond a return to the moon, Elon Musk is relying on Starship to be an integral part of his much more ambitious plan to get humans to Mars.

In September, the billionaire SpaceX founder revealed he was optimistic that the first astronauts could reach the red planet inside four years, and be living there in a self-sustaining city in 20.

Some observers say that’s an inconceivable timeline, while others see purpose in Musk’s assertions. Regular shuttle flights to Mars on Starship are absolutely achievable in the short to midterm future, they say.

Here’s our article looking at how, and when, Musk might actually achieve his dream of making humans an interplanetary species.

A banana has been placed inside the Starship flight, SpaceX says.

“Today’s Starship flight test has a special payload onboard – a banana!” Starlink writes.

“This universally-accepted measurement of scale is approximately the size of one Starlink Mini.”

Responding to Donald Trump’s message wishing him good luck on today’s launch, Elon Musk replied on X:

Honored to have President Trump at our Starship launch!

Richard Luscombe

SpaceX has begun sharing its live broadcast of its Starship rocket launch.

SpaceX says today’s flight test “aims to expand the envelope on ship and booster capabilities” and to “get closer to bringing reuse of the entire system online”.

“Objectives include the booster once again returning to the launch site for catch, reigniting a ship Raptor engine while in space, and testing a suite of heatshield experiments and maneuvering changes for ship reentry and descent over the Indian Ocean,” the company says.

Trump and Musk arrive at launch site

SpaceX has said the propellant load of the super heavy booster is now under way.

Trump wishes Musk good luck on 'incredible' project

Richard Luscombe

Richard Luscombe

Tuesday’s launch of the SpaceX rocket Starship comes just a week after Donald Trump announced that Elon Musk will co-lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, along with the former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Musk had pushed for a government efficiency department and has since relentlessly promoted it, emphasizing the acronym for the agency: Doge, a reference to a meme of an expressive shiba inu dog and the inspiration for the name of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, which Musk promotes.

According to a statement by Trump, Musk and Ramaswamy will work from outside government to “pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.

How to watch Starship's flight test

Trump to join Musk for SpaceX Starship launch in Texas