Starship tests in South Texas will be broadcast, but temper your expectations

Enlarge / The Starship test vehicle, currently under assembly in South Texas, may look similar to this illustration when finished. (credit: Elon Musk/Twitter)

What a world we live in. As SpaceX gears up to begin preliminary testing of its Starship vehicle along the South Texas coast, nearby South Padre Island has set up a camera to broadcast the proceedings. More than 2,700 people were watching as of 11:30am ET Thursday.

It's a clever tourism marketing ploy for the island but also great for spaceflight fans to get unprecedented views of real-time testing.

With that said, it's worth tempering expectations at least for the next few weeks. For now, SpaceX has attached a single Raptor engine to the test vehicle—which is nicknamed Starhopper because it was designed to make "hop" tests to varying altitudes to test Starship's landing capabilities. Eventually Starhopper will have three engines on the vehicle.