Starship launch news – live: SpaceX launches world’s biggest rocket, which explodes shortly after

The rocket is full and there’s three minutes left to go.

Cheers erupt at SpaceX as the clock ticks down to less than five minutes to go.

SpaceX’s commentators remind viewers that success is “anything we learn that will help with future builds of Starship”.

“If we lift off the pad we’re calling that a win.”

Everything is still looking good, with about eight minutes left to go before takeoff. The final bits of propellant are being loaded into the rocket, and it will soon be ready to go, with 10 million lbs of liquid inside.

There are no boats in the way of the rocket as it takes off over the Gulf of Mexico, SpaceX says. The team has to make sure there is nothing in the water underneath where the rocket could fall, for obvious reasons. (That was another issue SpaceX had on Monday – when a boat was spotted by the Coast Guard in the range – though it wasn’t the reason the launch got postponed.)

The raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster are chilling down ahead of takeoff.

Still no significant issues being worked on by the team and everything seems to be going to plan, SpaceX says.

Everything is looking good, including the weather and winds that had given flight controllers cause for concern, according to SpaceX. “We believe that we’re going to be go”, and there are no issues being worked on at the moment.

There’s less than 20 minutes left to go until expected takeoff.

Here are the 33 engines on the Super Heavy booster, all ready and waiting to light up and lift off.

SpaceX appears to be running on time. That means we’ve now got less than 30 minutes until the launch, which will happen at roughly 28 minutes past the hour.

On the live feed, SpaceX is showing views of the launchpad. Its drone view looks a lot less foggy than those from Spaceflight Now, below.

After a little delay, the SpaceX live stream has started. You can find it below.