Hello, we are TheSpaceXFans and welcome to TheSpaceXShow, the place where you can stay
up to date with everything SpaceX.
Today’s episode we will begin by looking at a few SpaceX updates, then we’ll have
a look at various things in Boca Chica.
Plus we have bits and pieces of Starships, a little SN5, SN6 and SN7 with some upcoming
testing.
Let’s head straight in and get up to date…
To begin with, there is a new article from rideshare and mission management company Spaceflight.
It mentions how the company has signed an agreement with SpaceX for future rideshare
missions.
Apparently the agreement will help as it “secures Spaceflight capacity to launch manifest payloads
on several SpaceX launches through the end of 2021.”
The article also says the agreement will help with “providing launch schedule assurance
to smallsat customers needing frequent, reliable, and cost-effective launches to Sun-synchronous
orbit.”
SpaceX responded to a Tweet from Spaceflight about booking a ride on one of their SpaceX
rideshare missions.
SpaceX said “More than 100 spacecraft have been signed up to fly on Falcon 9 since we
launched the rideshare program.”
In a previous video, we took a brief look at a Tweet about a change to the commercial
crew program.
So we already knew that SpaceX had been granted permission to reuse Dragon and Falcon 9 vehicles.
However, a new article from SpaceNews has more information.
Apparently Boeing had previously been allowed to refurbish and reuse their Starliner capsule.
Whilst NASA hinted last year at SpaceX also being able to do this, it’s only just been
added as a modification.
Also, apparently the reuses could begin as soon as next year.
There is a new Tweet from Michael Baylor about something the former NASA spaceflight chief
said.
Kathy Leuders apparently said “The Crew Dragon has been doing great.
Every week it wakes up and we do checkouts, and then it goes back into sleep mode.
The crew on orbit have also been putting it through its paces.
About to do a demonstration with four crew members in the vehicle at once.”
Apparently a Gulfstream jet is scheduled for a “DM-2 Direct Return Mission” in August
to return the Demo-2 crew to Houston.
So looks like NASA are planning for a return of Bob and Doug around August 15th to August
17th.
The Tweet from Thomas Burghardt says “Dragon Endeavour’s splashdown off the coast of
Florida should then occur on or just before those dates.”
Along with Chris Gebhardt’s Tweet which says “A landing of Endeavor in this range
would place the first "regular" Crew-1 long-duration mission of Commercial Crew at NET mid-September
2020.”
With the SpaceX updates covered, we will now head over to Boca Chica.
As usual, there has been all sorts of activity recently, starting with a new pet that SpaceX
has got.
As you saw last episode, there is a new dog house for Zeus, and as people commented on
my last video, Zeus is not a conventional dog.
Instead he is a Boston Dynamics Spot robot, and my guess would be that he will be used
for inspecting vehicles.
On the Boston Dynamics website it says “Spot has an industry track record in remote operation
and autonomous sensing.”
In the last video, we also saw a new structure being built over near the fuel farm.
As you can see here, workers are progressing with it, but still not sure what it might
be.
Also, over at the Starship / Super Heavy launch pad, further work has been happening with
the foundations.
I know barely anything about construction, but believe they’re pouring concrete here.
In my last video, we also saw some components for a new big crane had arrived.
Here you can see that workers have begun to construct this new vehicle.
Apparently this crane is a Manitowoc 18000 and can hold a load of around 600 tons.
After some reading, it’s reach capabilities vary from 36.5 metres up to 185 metres depending
on how the crane is rigged.
So I believe this could potentially lift Starship high enough to stack with Super Heavy so this
thing will be massive.
Something this could be used for soon is the Super Heavy high bay, or lifting Starship
onto the launch stand.
Also I want to show you a view which has been very common in my recent videos, the next
test stand.
Something interesting to note is how much more complex this looks compared with the
old one.
Most notably, I don’t think there’s ever been railings at the top of the stand.
Next, we have a little bit of Raptor testing information from Elon Musk.
Somebody called Raegen who lives close enough to hear engine tests in McGregor tweeted about
a recent Raptor test.
She asked “What levels are they now reaching?
And what are you working towards?”
With Musk responding to say “Reaching chamber pressure of 300 atmospheres.”
Now we’ll take a look at some Starship pieces spotted here and there.
First up as you can see, we have Cory’s taco dome, the interesting section that will
never see flight.
I don’t know what exactly it’s for but it’s been moved outside again.
Also at another angle, you can see that a doorway has been cut out of the side.
Inside the tent in the background you can see there is a little Starship section.
Last episode we saw a Tweet where Musk mentioned another SN7 test tank will follow shortly.
This could be a part of that, but could also be for the next Starship SN version.
Not sure if there will be a full size SN7 tank or if we might see SN8 after SN5 and
6.
You can also see that another new section was spotted in another tent.
You can see the name “Juan” on the top ring for the stack, no idea who that is of
course, but that’s the name I’m giving to this section.
Also, the “Juan” ring stack was recently moved outside the tent and into the yard.
I’m guessing soon we could see a new vehicle using this stack, maybe the SN7 test tank?
At some point in a previous video, we saw a new section that sort of looked like a bulkhead
or nose cone piece.
It has been spotted again and is definitely not a nose cone section, and is apparently
a new thrust puck.
Definitely quite a bit different to what we have seen so far.
The only SN5 and SN6 to really show this episode is this amazing view.
Both of the vehicles were spotted sharing the high bay together.
On the left you’ve got SN6 and on the right you’ve got SN5, and wow seeing this sight
is so cool.
Before we see some dates for upcoming testing, let’s take a bit of a look at the SN7 test
tank.
As you will know, SpaceX recently tested the new 304L stainless steel in a pressure test
of the SN7 bopper.
You can see here that engineers have been working on it to prepare it for further testing.
They’ve been seen lifting and installing a new vent system for the top of the vehicle.
As you can see here this has two vents, not sure why, but they’re going to be testing
this tank again soon.
I’m going to guess they’re going to try and reach a higher pressure than the 7.6 bar
it reached the other day.
Not sure if this still means that there will be a second test tank to follow, but we’ll
just have to wait and see.
However, for now, there are some road and beach closures from Cameron County for testing.
With nothing happening on June 19th, the next testing dates are Monday June 22nd and Wednesday
June 23rd.
You can see an image Tweeted by Michael Baylor with testing dates.
The primary closure is June 24th with backup dates of June 25th and June 26th.
It says these dates are for SN5 proof testing.
So in the next few days, we could see another SN7 test, as well as SN5 roll out.
Then over the next week there might be a whole bunch of testing taking place.
Very exciting stuff is happening right now and I can’t wait.
Now we’ve reached the part of the video where I thank Mary, BocaChicaGal for her time
and effort documenting history.
Also thank you to the rest of the NASASpaceflight team for their incredible work sharing these
awesome insights.
That’s it for this episode of TheSpaceXShow, I hope you enjoyed the video, if you did,
make sure to hit the like button and leave a comment down below.
If you want to stay updated with SpaceX info, make sure to subscribe and press the bell
icon to get notified when I upload.
Thanks for watching and have a great day!