The largest and most powerful rocket to ever fly could take off on its sixth test flight as early as Monday at 5 pm EST.

SpaceX will attempt to repeat the historic booster capture maneuver it performed during the previous test flight of Starship and Super Heavy. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX is TARGETING the sixth test flight of its Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy thruster – comprising the largest and most powerful rocket system ever built – since Monday. Both those rocket and rappel were moved to the launch pad this week for stacking.

The mission, which like previous Starship flights, will be streamed live on SpaceX website and X accountwill feature a second attempt to catch the rappel above the launch pad using a pair of metal “stick” arms. SpaceX successfully pulled off the unprecedented maneuver, a key step in making Starship and Super Heavy fully reusable, on previous test flight.

Barring a delay due to weather or other factors, SpaceX’s live coverage will begin 30 minutes before the launch window opens on Monday at 5:00 PM EST. After activating the flame deflector system and firing the Super Heavy’s 33 Raptor engines, the Starship will lift off from the company’s Starbase launch pad at the southern tip of Texas.

Within minutes, the Super Heavy will stall and separate from the Starship, hurtling back toward Earth at supersonic speed. About seven minutes into the mission, SpaceX expects to catch the booster back to starbase after slowing to a hover.

Refining the booster grip, made using a pair of robotic arms attached to a tower the company calls “Mechazilla,” is critical to increasing Starship’s launch rate. SpaceX hopes to cut the time between missions from months to days or even hours by quickly catching, offloading and returning the Super Heavy — and eventually the Starship itself — to the platform.

After stage separation, the massive rocket will fly about halfway around the world. In orbit, SpaceX will re-ignite one of the Starship’s six Raptor engines to demonstrate its deorbit burn capability. The spacecraft will need to brake to refuel at an orbital propellant depot before heading to the Moon on NASA. Artemis 3 mission.

About 45 minutes into the flight, the Starship will re-enter the atmosphere enveloped in glowing plasma. SpaceX will be watching closely — for Flight 6, the company removed some of the rocket’s heat shield plates in locations where Mechazilla’s stick arms might one day catch it. Engineers will assess how the new configuration holds up as the firm prepares to catch the Starship on a future mission.

After performing a turn and landing maneuver, Starship will splash down in the Indian Ocean around 6:05 p.m. EST, about an hour after liftoff.

A successful booster capture and reentry could pave the way for the launch of Flight 7 within weeks. Monday’s launch, if it happens, would come just over a month after the previous test flight. But any major mission change would require the company to update its FAA launch license, which can be a long process.

Editor’s note: This story first appeared on FLIGHT.