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How to watch SpaceX Falcon Heavy's historic launch

The monster spacecraft is scheduled to blast off Thursday, after high winds postponed the first commercial launch. Here's how to watch along.

Jackson Ryan Former Science Editor
Jackson Ryan was CNET's science editor, and a multiple award-winning one at that. Earlier, he'd been a scientist, but he realized he wasn't very happy sitting at a lab bench all day. Science writing, he realized, was the best job in the world -- it let him tell stories about space, the planet, climate change and the people working at the frontiers of human knowledge. He also owns a lot of ugly Christmas sweaters.
Jackson Ryan
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falcopunch

Commencing countdown, engines on.

SpaceX

The incredible space achievements just keep coming (we hope).

SpaceX 's most powerful rocket -- the Falcon Heavy -- was primed to send Saudi Arabia's Arabsat-6A telecommunications satellite into orbit Wednesday, but high atmospheric winds forced SpaceXto postpone the launch by 24 hours. Now the moment has (almost) arrived (again).

On Wednesday Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO suggested that a delay was likely due to "upper atmospheric wind shear" and SpaceX confirmed there would be no launch. Instead, the company would aim for their backup window, which is scheduled to open at 3:32 p.m. PT on April 11 and will remain open until 5:32 p.m. PT.

SpaceX tweeted Thursday "all weather and systems are currently go", so provided the pesky Floridian weather stays that way, it should be full steam ahead.

As with all SpaceX launches, this will be a livestreamed event. It's a particularly notable one, being Falcon Heavy's second flight ever and the very first commercial launch for the gargantuan launch vehicle. It's been over a year since SpaceX sent Elon Musk's to space. 

SpaceX will have the official livestream on their website, as well as at the YouTube Live link below, 20 minutes before launch:

The rocket's payload, Arabsat-6A, will be released 34 minutes into the journey. As with the first launch of the Falcon Heavy, SpaceX will try to safely land the two side rocket boosters back at Cape Canaveral Landing Zones 1 and 2 in Florida.

The core booster is set to be captured by the Of Course I Still Love You drone ship floating in the Atlantic Ocean. If that occurs, it will be another history-making moment for SpaceX. The first retrieval didn't go so well for the poor old core booster, which missed the landing and plunged into the ocean after delivering the Roadster to orbit in February last year.

SpaceX will be hoping for a successful retrieval of all boosters as Falcon Heavy sets its sights on a second launch later this year.

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Originally published April 9.
Update, April 10: Adds delay and updated how to watch information.

Update, April 11: Adds new information for launch