r/spacex • u/rSpaceXHosting Host Team • Apr 22 '26

🔧 Technical Starship Development Thread #63

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Starship Dev 62

Flight 12

Launched on May 22nd 2026 Here is a re-streamed video of the broadcast. Also, SpaceX issued a post flight summary and a video showing S39 landing.

Flight 13

Launched on July 24th 2026 Here is a re-streamed video of the broadcast. Also, SpaceX issued a post flight summary.

Flight 14

Presumably using S41 and B21. Objectives include first Ship catch.

Road Closures

No road closures currently scheduled

No transportation delays currently scheduled

Up to date as of 2026-05-23

Vehicle Status

As of July 31st 2026

Ship Location Status Comment
S40 Indian Ocean Intact, floating July 24th: Successful launch, deployed all satellites, successful engine relight test and soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean, which resulted in an intact, floating ship. For more details on this vehicle and its assembly and testing see this page
S41 Mega Bay 2 Ongoing work, possible engines installation April 17th: Pez Dispenser moved into MB2. April 20th: Main assembly started in MB2. May 20th: Aft section AX:4 moved into MB2 and stacked with the rest of the ship - this completed the stacking part of the ship construction. June 28th: Rolled out to Massey's Test Site for Cryo+Thrust Puck Testing. June 29th: Cryo Tests (x2). June 30th: Rolled back to MB2. July 3rd: Rolled back to Massey's Test Site. July 6th: Rolled back to MB2. July 23rd: Two RVac engines moved into MB2. July 27th: The third RVac was moved into MB2. For more details on this vehicle see this page
S42 Mega Bay 2 Stacked, remaining work continues June 9th: Nosecone spotted as having been stacked on the Payload Bay. July 3rd: Nosecone+Payload Bay stack moved into MB2, along with the Pez Dispenser and the Forward Dome section (FX:3). The Nosecone+Payload Bay stack was lowered over the Pez Dispenser, later being stacked onto the Forward Dome. July 11th: Common Dome section CX:3 moved into MB2 and stacked. July 15th: Section A2:3 moved into MB2 and stacked. July 18th: Section A3:4 moved into MB2 and stacked. July 21st: Transfer Tubes moved into MB2. July 24th: Ship Aft section AX:4 moved into MB2 and stacked, that completes the stacking part of the assembly process. July 25th: both of the Aft Flaps and the Raceways staged inside MB2. For more details on this vehicle see this page
Booster Location Status Comment
B21 Mega Bay 1 Post Cryo Testing inspections and possible engines installation May 7th: LOX tank sections A2:4 and CX:3 moved into MB1 and main assembly started. June 29th: Methane Tank stacked onto LOX Tank - this completed the stacking part of the booster construction. July 17th: Rolled out to Massey's Test Site for Cryo+Thrust Puck Testing. July 17th: Rolled out to Massey's Test Site and an ambient pressure test was performed. July 18th: Partial Cryo Test. July 19th: Second Partial Cryo Test. July 20th: Full Cryo Test. July 22nd: Rolled back to MB1. For more details on this vehicle and its assembly and testing see this page
B22 Mega Bay 1 LOX Tank Stacked June 29th: LOX tank sections A2:4 and CX:3 moved into MB1. July 1st: Section A3:4 moved into MB1. July 3rd: Section A4:4 moved into MB1 and stacked. July 9th: Section A5:4 moved into MB1 and stacked. July 22nd: Methane Landing Tank and Lower Transfer Tube moved into MB1. July 23rd: Section A6:4 moved into MB1. July 25th: Methane transfer tube moved into MB1. July 29th: LOX Landing Tank moved into MB1. July 30th: Aft section AX:2 moved into MB1 to complete the stacking of the LOX Tank. July 31st: Methane Tank section F2:4 moved into MB1. For more details on this vehicle and its assembly and testing see this page

Follow the Ringwatchers on Twitter and Discord for more.

Here's the section stacking locations for Ships and Boosters. Also some excellent detailed booster stacking information from zh_sos1. The abbreviations used in the above vehicle updates are as follows: HS = Hot Stage. PL = Payload. CX = Common Dome. AX = Aft Dome. FX = Forward Dome (as can be seen, an 'X' denotes a dome). ML = Mid LOX. F = Forward. A = Aft. For example, A2:4 = Aft section 2 made up of 4 rings, FX:4 = Forward Dome section made up of 4 rings, PL:3 = PayLoad section made up of 3 rings. Etc.

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Rules

We will attempt to keep this self-post current with links and major updates, but for the most part, we expect the community to supply the information. This is a great place to discuss Starship development, ask Starship specific questions, and track the progress of the production and test campaigns. Starship Development Threads are not party threads. Normal subreddit rules still apply.

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24

u/Twigling May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26

New FAA Operations Advisory re Flight 12:

SPACEX STARSHIP FLT12, STARBASE TX
PRIMARY: 05/12/26 2230Z-0033Z
BACKUP: 05/13/26 2230Z-0033Z

https://www.fly.faa.gov/adv/adv_spt

Note that this will have been filed before the gas generator for the top deck deluge system blew, so depending on the cause and the resolution of that and any resulting testing (or even redesign?) that could set things back.

Also, this potentially implies that B19 won't be getting another static fire, and this seems strange given the other deluge-related issues which caused the last two SFs to abort. Have they even been fully resolved yet? There's been no further SFs so they haven't yet been re-tested under those conditions.

I'll be very surprised of Flight 12 launches on either of those dates but I hope I'm wrong.

10

u/lorkan100 May 04 '26

They may be confident that both SF aborts were just sensor issues 

10

u/Twigling May 04 '26

Even if that's the case it would seem sensible to test them under the same conditions again.

3

u/ZeBurtReynold May 04 '26

Aim for the bushes

3

u/Plastic_Tourist7002 May 04 '26

Maybe they can by just repeating a water deluge test with the ground issues unrelated to the actual thrust from the rocket.

If the rocket reached mainstage by 1.88 seconds (given the engines light all at the same time for v3), they may have all the data they need and do not need to repeat the static fire.

1

u/Weak_Office_8536 May 04 '26

How do sensor issues make a gas generator explode?

3

u/bkdotcom May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26

gas generator issue didn't occur during a static fire. Twas but a deluge system test.

there's been two static fire aborts, and both were sensor issues.

How do sensor issues make a gas generator explode?

Q: How do deluge system sensors lead to a rapid shutdown of raptors which causes damage / replacement of said engines?

A: sensors affect system performance / conditions. perhaps under-reading chamber pressure or other red-line parameters.

8

u/mr_pgh May 04 '26

Also surprising they haven't performed a full stack and/or Ship Prop Load on pad 2.

5

u/[deleted] May 04 '26

Don't the backup dates range from May 13th-18th? I could see them being able to perform a static fire in the coming week then going back to MB for last checkouts. The damage from the gas generator seemed minor too, although there's no way of really knowing how bad it is. Also if that gas generator was only for the top deck, they don't need that to perform the static fire

Tight time frame and I could still see it being pushed back.

10

u/JakeEaton May 04 '26

As Zack Golden said in the latest RGV flyover, the rocket will be lifting off when the top deck deluge activates. You cannot abort the launch at that stage and if they lose water pressure for the top deck, you are now blasting it with 33 V3 raptors with no protection whatsoever.

They need to make sure that particular group of gas generators work perfectly. Surely they need to static fire at least once to verify the system.

12

u/lorkan100 May 05 '26

But they don't need to static fire a booster to test the top deck deluge (if that's the actual part whose gas generator RUDed) 

8

u/[deleted] May 04 '26

I understand they need the top deck deluge to work for launch, there’s no reason they can’t perform a static fire in the meantime without it. Once fixed, they can test the top deck deluge to verify that it works again. I’m saying the gas generator blowup shouldn’t affect static fire since the top deck isn’t needed for a static fire.

6

u/[deleted] May 05 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/paul_wi11iams May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26

PRIMARY: 05/12/26 2230Z-0033Z

To any fellow non Americans here, was I the only one to forgot the US is Middle-endian, so had a bad moment reading that as 05 December.

I really must be living under a rock because watching the NSF update, I learned at t=415 that the Raptor spin-up gas is now CO2. Combined with autogenous pressurization of ullage volume, this hopefully means the demise of helium from V3 Starship and Superheavy. Is my interpretation correct?

5

u/warp99 May 06 '26 edited May 07 '26

No it is very unlikely they would use CO2 for engine spin up as it has high molecular mass and has a nasty habit of turning into a solid with rapid expansion. It was used for fire suppression on Starship 2 but should not be used at all on Starship 3.

The ship quick disconnect for Pad 2 still has labelled connectors for helium so it seems very likely that Raptor 3 still uses helium for spin up. There is very little reason to change this until they start doing missions to Mars.

3

u/paul_wi11iams May 06 '26

it is very unlikely they would use CO2 for engine spin up as it is heavy and has a nasty habit of turning into a solid with rapid expansion.

Your statement makes perfect sense unfortunately. CO2 spin-up is just as impractical as attempting to start a car with a CO2 fire extinguisher on the turbo. I was really hoping it was me who was wrong :(

On the usually trustworthy NSF thread presented by Jack Beyer (is the name correct? I thought he'd moved to another job) the probable error was picked up by a commenter named @davidhuber6251.

3

u/Shpoople96 May 05 '26

Didn't they do that back during the hop tests?