'Hold That Thought' - T-Minus 40: Starship Scrubs, Mars Beckons

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SpaceX came agonisingly close to launching the most powerful rocket ever built in its newest configuration — but a technical halt at T-minus 40 seconds sent Starship V3's debut back to the drawing board, with another attempt window opening this evening (6:30–8:00 p.m. EDT). Anna and Avery dig into what went wrong, what makes V3 different, and the stunning announcement buried in the webcast: a named commander for humanity's first crewed Mars flyby mission. Plus: JWST rewrites exoplanet atmospheric science with unexpected ice clouds on a distant super-Jupiter, researchers map a mysterious magnetic 'flip' inside the Milky Way, and Rocket Lab launches from New Zealand.

Links & Further Reading •       Starship Flight 12 live updates: space.com •       SpaceX launch webcast (tonight): spacex.com •       Chun Wang Mars announcement: universetoday.com •       JWST Epsilon Indi Ab paper (ApJL): doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae5823 •       Milky Way magnetic field study (ApJ): doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae28d1 •       Rocket Lab Viva La Strix mission: rocketlabusa.com •       Astronomy Daily website: astronomydaily.io

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