Hello, we are TheSpaceXFans and welcome to TheSpaceXShow, the place where you can stay
up to date with everything SpaceX.
Kicking off today’s video, there was yet another Falcon 9 launch with the Starlink
4-16 mission.
[SpaceX Commentator: “One.
Ignition.
Liftoff for Starlink.
Go Falcon, Go Starlink 4-16.”]
The booster which launched this mission, B1062, landed successfully for the 6th time on the
droneship Just Read The Instructions.
[SpaceX Commentator: “Incredible views.
Falcon 9 has landed on our droneship, Just Read The Instructions.”]
There is an interesting part of the livestream that I want to share as this is the quickest
turnaround for a booster.
[SpaceX Commentator: “This particular booster has supported 5 previous missions; GPS-3 Space…
GPS-3 Space Vehicle 4 and 5, Inspiration 4, a Starlink mission, and most recently, Ax-1,
or Axiom-1 which just launched 3 weeks ago.
In fact, the booster that you see on your screen had the fastest turnaround time to
date.
The Ax-1 mission launched on April 8th, so it only took the teams 9 days to refurbish,
and today marks 21 days to get it back to the launch pad to support today’s mission.
That’s a great milestone for our teams as it brings us 1 step closer to providing fast
and reliable access to space for all.”]
There is another launch expected this coming week with yet another Starlink mission.
As you can see on TheSpaceXFans website, the Starlink 4-17 mission is scheduled to lift
off on Thursday, May 5th at 10:12am UTC or 6:12am EDT.
The Crew-4 astronauts arrived at the space station on Thursday and SpaceX posted this
great video of the Draco thrusters firing.
Eric Berger posted a Tweet saying “Benji Reed says he thinks SpaceX can support about
six Crew Dragon flights a year; so 50 percent more than it currently does.
Likely breakdown: Two NASA flights (until Starliner becomes operational).
Two Axiom/ISS private astronaut missions.
Two free-flyers (Polaris, etc.)”
There was an article posted saying “The UAE has secured a six-month mission to the
International Space Station for an Emirati astronaut, after purchasing a seat on a SpaceX
rocket from private company Axiom Space.
The astronaut will be part of the SpaceX Crew-6 mission that is scheduled for launch in the
first half of 2023 from Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre.”
Heading over to Boca Chica, here’s the orbital launch site.
Crews have been continuing working on the Starship quick disconnect arm.
This new Starship quick disconnect was seen delivered to the launch site.
It was also installed onto the arm.
SpaceX conducted a water deluge test of the orbital launch mount recently.
The work on suborbital Pad A continues.
The vacuum Raptor thrust simulators are being prepared to be installed on the mount.
The work on the Mega Bay has been continuing in the production yard.
Work continues with the construction of Starfactory as more beams have been added.
The work on the mystery box is continuing by the ground fabrication building.
Eric Berger posted some interesting Tweets from somebody at SpaceX regarding Starship.
The first says “Aarti Matthews of SpaceX says the company's investment in Starship
is ‘significantly greater than 50 percent of the cost of the vehicle’ compared to
government.
Point being, the $2.9 billion NASA is putting in for the Human Landing System is a small
fraction of the overall cost.”
Next, he posted “NASA engineer asks what they should do to help industry.
Matthews: Plan for capabilities of Starship; 100 metric tons, essentially infinite volume
for payload, an order of magnitude of lower costs.
‘What does your system look like when you have no mass or volume constraints?’”
Finally “More from Matthews: That's four firetrucks.
It's 100 Moon rovers.
It's the mass of 11 elephants.
‘NASA specified a high level need, but industry is taking away one of your biggest constraints,
mass.
I think that we all need to be thinking bigger and better.’”
There’s some unfortunate news with the environmental assessment being delayed once again.
As you can see on the FAA website for environmental assessment information, it says “The FAA
plans to release the Final PEA on May 31, 2022.”
Eric Berger posted a Tweet about the delay where the FAA gave a reason for the delay.
He posted “In an email sent to reporters just now, the FAA adds the following rationale
for the delay.
‘SpaceX made multiple changes to its application that requires additional FAA analysis.
The agency continues to review around 18,000 general public comments.’”
Here’s a view of the nosecones under construction in the fabrication tent.
The remains of Ship 21 were moved to the scrap yard.
Here’s the Starship 24 nosecone stacked with its barrel section in the High Bay.
The work on Super Heavy Booster 7 continues with it in the High Bay.
As always, I have to say thanks to both Mary, known as BocaChicaGal and Nic Ansuini for
being out there filming the Boca Chica content.
Also, thanks to the NASASpaceflight team working behind the scenes on their videos, livestreams
and other space content.
That’s it for this episode of TheSpaceXShow, I hope you enjoyed the video, if you did,
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Thanks for watching and have a great day!