Hello, we are TheSpaceXFans and welcome to TheSpaceXShow, the place where you can stay
up to date with everything SpaceX.
Today we will start by looking at the long awaited launch of Starlink-9.
Then as always we will see what’s been happening in Boca Chica and with Starship including
SN5, SN7.1 and SN8.
Let’s head straight in and get up to date…
As I said, Starlink-9 along with 2 BlackSky satellites, finally lifted off after many
delays.
The booster, B1051 that first launched Demo 1 back in March 2019 launched for the 5th
time.
As hoped and expected, it then landed successfully on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You.
There’s also been some good news in terms of SpaceX and it’s partnership with the
U.S government.
The company, along with ULA have been chosen to continue launching national security missions
for the U.S. Known as National Security Space Launch Phase 2 Launch Service Procurement,
SpaceX were awarded $316 million for a 5 year contract from 2022 through 2027.
That’s all for SpaceX updates, but over in Boca Chica as you know, SpaceX recently
launched SN5.
To start with, here is a view of the launch mount that the prototype was sitting on.
If you thought SpaceX didn’t already have enough cranes, well you can see here that
another one has been seen arriving.
Like with Bluezilla, this is another Manitowoc crane, but instead this is a Manitowoc 14000.
You can see there are parts of it that were spotted all over the place.
Looks like they’ve now started to construct this new crane over by the launch area.
Near the production area, where the scrapyard is, workers were spotted scrapping the metal
to make room for more scrap.
You may remember that some videos ago, we saw the arrival of some new robotic welders.
You can see one of them already in action here, meaning the automation part of the production
line has already begun.
Just by the mid bay, workers have been spotted doing some work with what looks to be the
removal of the fence.
The question now is whether or not we could potentially expect to see them put a wall
here too?
We’ll have to wait and see, but I’m really hoping not.
The construction of the second level of the high bay has been continuing recently.
However, you can see that they’ve also already begun constructing the 3rd level.
One corner of this next level has already been put together.
Then, there’s also the second corner that has been put together as well.
And well, okay…
So, moving on, let’s take a bit of a look at some Starship stuff.
First up we have a thread where somebody tweeted “amazing only Raptor engine can fly SN5”.
However, Everyday Astronaut responded to say that actually Merlin could potentially do
it also, mentioning that the thrust to weight is better than Raptor.
Then Musk responded to say “I think we can get (Veloci)Raptor T/W on par with Merlin.
Latter also started out with about half its current T/W.” Just so you’re all aware,
Raptor is short for Velociraptor apparently.
I personally thought that Raptor was birds of prey just like Falcon and Kestrel, but
there you go.
Anyway, there was also another tweet from somebody asking whether Starship or Super
Heavy were increasing by 2 metres.
Musk responded with “Haha, good catch.
Booster will have fixed legs that add ~2m in height.”
In response to a tweet from Chris Bergin pointing out the humans for scale in a clip from an
NSF livestream, Musk responded to say “It will look crazy tall with booster & fairing
at 122m / 394 ft”.
Now, let’s move onto SN5, I just wanted to begin by showing you this epic shot posted
by Elon Musk.
This doesn’t look real but I can assure you it very much is.
Then, of course, SN5 was filmed standing tall on its little stubby legs.
Here is a closer view of those cute little legs.
It appears that SN5 has lost some of its heat shield tiles, looks like once again they were
using different methods of attaching them.
You may have noticed in the hop video from SpaceX that there was a fire with Raptor SN27
during the flight.
Whilst it probably isn’t optimal, it didn’t cause any significant issues during the test
and if anything it’s good because SpaceX can learn more.
Recently, workers were also spotted getting the prototype prepared to be placed on the
roll lift and moved.
Next up to look at is what’s happening in terms of the SN7.1 test tank.
You can see here that we have a barrel section that was moved outside for the thrust section.
Of course, that also means that they moved a bottom dome outside too, and so it was placed
onto the sleeving mount.
Then the sections were obviously sleeved with one another to be welded together.
Also for SN7.1, we have a new section that has emerged from a tent and been seen in the
yard.
This is the leg skirt for the SN7.1 test tank.
Whilst I want to say that all of the following is for SN8, I’m not sure that’s the case.
So to finish up the video, we have future pieces of Starships and some definitive SN8
pieces, but let’s start with this nose cone.
You can see that it has a header tank weld, although what I wanted to talk about was not
so much the nose cone but the ring stack behind it.
It appears to be a 5 ring stack and you can see it has those reinforcements we’ve been
seeing a lot more often recently.
Recently Mauricio at RGV Aerial Photography hired the expensive Cessna and pilot services,
and went to grab some more awesome shots.
Mauricio often does these expensive flights and needs help with funding to keep bringing
us these amazing views.
There’s a link to his Patreon in the description.
This fantastic shot shows the nose cone area and what I want to point out are some canards
sitting on the ground.
I’m guessing these maybe arrived with the fins or at some other point, however maybe
soon we might see them attached, that will be cool.
For other Starship bits, SpaceX has moved another section out of a fabrication tent.
Whilst I’m not sure, this might be for SN8 and possibly part of the thrust section.
Finally, we have some definitive SN8 updates, starting with this view of SN6 and SN8 in
the mid bay.
SN8 has begun the stacking process and so we should pretty quickly start to see this
tank grow.
Here’s a closer look at the stacked section and it’s looking good.
It’s being made from the 304L stainless steel, unlike SN5 which I believe is made
from 301 stainless.
To finish up the video, let’s take a look at the latest SN8 build diagram with this
fantastic image from Brendan again.
Will be very interesting to see what sections get stacked in the coming videos.
As always, a huge thank you goes to Mary, more commonly known as BocaChicaGal as she
spends hours in the Texas heat so we get to see this awesome stuff.
Plus, a huge thank you to the rest of the NASASpaceFlight team, all of your dedication
and work to bring us great coverage is admirable.
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!