Hello, we are TheSpaceXFans and welcome to TheSpaceXShow, the place where you can stay
up to date with everything SpaceX.
Today’s episode we have a bunch of SpaceX updates to look at, plus a whole bunch of
stuff going on in Boca Chica.
Then we have some information from Elon Musk, other Starship pieces, plus a bit of SN5,
SN6 and SN7.
Quite a bit to cover today so let’s head straight in and get up to date…
Starting off with the recent launch of Starlink-7.
As most of you will know, the rocket lifted off successfully for the fifth time on Wednesday
June 3rd.
The booster then proceeded to make history by becoming the first orbital class rocket
booster to land for the fifth time.
In other Starlink and launch news, it’s looking like we could have an exciting month
of June.
As Michael Baylor has tweeted “SpaceX appears to be targeting no earlier than June 12/13
for their next Starlink mission, per marine hazard zones.”
On top of this, he also tweeted that the following Starlink mission, Starlink-9 is also expected
this month.
Not only that, but SpaceX are also apparently expected to launch GPS 3 this month.
So as you can see on TheSpaceXFans website, there’s a great looking launch cadence for
this month, but as always this is subject to potential weather delays.
The next thing to show you are a couple of shots from Julia Bergeron.
On the left you can see the newer version of Octagrabber and on the right is the older
version.
Some assumptions were made by people thinking this was the new Octagrabber we saw recently
under construction.
However, after speaking with Julia, she said “I am now pretty positive that the new one
is indeed on JRTI and they upgraded the one you can see here on OCISLY.”
Something notable about this new version is what it allows SpaceX to do as you will see
in my next point.
This new version should also be able to grab hold of Falcon Heavy centre cores, something
the old version couldn’t.
Here you can see B1058.1 sitting in port after returning from Demo 2.
What I want to point out is that this booster had its legs retracted whilst still on OCISLY.
Usually when they retract the legs, they take the rocket off the drone ship and place it
on a special stand.
So this is a new capability of the Octagrabber and will allow them to speed up the recovery
process.
The final piece of SpaceX news is quite exciting and a pretty big change to the commercial
crew program.
Apparently NASA have granted SpaceX permission to fly re-used boosters and Crew Dragon capsules
for commercial crew missions.
Quickly before we move on to Boca Chica, let’s see some updates from Elon Musk.
He started by tweeting this amazing aerial shot of the Starship production facility.
He was then asked by NASASpaceFlight if there are any more additions we can look forward
to.
Musk responded with “Giant high bay coming soon.”
He was then asked arbitrarily what it might be used for.
Musk responded to say that its purpose will be for Super Heavy stacking.
Apparently it will also be 81 metres tall.
Everyday Astronaut also responded to somebody else’s tweet about making a high bay for
stacking both Starship and Super Heavy together.
He said that based on renders he thinks it makes sense to stack them at the pad.
Musk responded to him and confirmed that that’s the intention, but apparently even that will
be an adventure.
Now over to Boca Chica, where, as I said, a whole bunch of things have been going on.
Starting with the old test stand which you cannot see here, because it has been dismantled
and removed from the launch area.
To add to this, work on the new launch mount has really picked up in recent days.
As you can see here the mount was placed on a roll lift and moved over to where the old
stand was.
As well, engineers have continued to work on the test stand to get it ready for SN5,
which should arrive very soon.
More on SN5 testing in a bit.
There are some new arrivals to the launch area which look like they could be parts of
a mount.
Maybe SpaceX are preparing to build another test stand which could make sense given how
quickly SN6 is coming together.
This new piece of equipment also recently arrived at the launch area.
I had assumed and turns out it was a piece of ground support equipment as you can see
it being lowered into the test stand.
Also some new pipes were delivered to the launch area so the new mount should be ready
very soon.
The SN4 explosion obviously sent pieces flying all over the place.
Here’s some more damage that was caused where a piece got wedged in a tank.
SpaceX have also been seen working at the fuel farm as a new tank has arrived.
I’m sure somebody in the comments can tell me what this tank is for.
However, as you can see here it has been placed upright to be hooked up for SN5’s arrival.
Over in the construction area, a new crane has arrived.
Even though I don’t know much about it, my guess was that it is going to be used for
the new ring fabrication building.
As you can see here, turns out that I was correct as it has been moved inside that building.
I can’t wait to see this building start churning out pieces of Starship.
Let’s now look at some other Starship pieces that have been seen.
Starting with this already sleeved dome in an onion tent.
I may be wrong but I’m assuming it’s Cory’s taco dome since it doesn’t look very Starship
worthy.
There is also still the new nose cone we saw in the tent being worked on.
Still a bit too small and still not sure which SN version this is intended for.
With SN4 gone, all eyes are now on SN5 who we are expecting to create just as good if
not a better legacy than its predecessor.
You can see it here still chilling in the high bay with SN6.
Recently some new legs were spotted being moved around in the construction yard.
They look very similar to some of the renders I’ve seen of the legs so will be cool to
see these things pop out from underneath.
The nose cone ring stack for SN5 that recently folded in on itself doesn’t look too bad
now.
Maybe they’re still planning to use it, but I doubt we will see SN5 get a nose cone
until after proof testing.
There has also been some news with regards to rollout and testing.
Michael Baylor tweeted that “rollout of Starship SN5 to the pad is scheduled for Monday,
June 8, with proof testing to begin NET Wednesday, June 10.”
Here you can see the latest road and beach closures by Cameron County.
As we just saw, there’s tomorrow, Monday 8th for rollout, and Wednesday June 10th for
testing.
Then there’s also June 11th and June 12th as testing backup days.
Get ready launch area, SN5 is coming!
For now though, let’s take a look at the final 2 Starships at the moment SN6 and SN7.
Here you can see the SN6 thrust section which we recently saw got sleeved.
It has now been attached to the flipping mechanism.
Then as expected they flipped it over in preparation for stacking.
It’s still sitting outside and so the stacking phase should be coming very soon and then
we’ll have a full SN6 tank.
Finally, last episode we saw that an SN7 bulkhead was moved outside as were the rings.
Then it was sleeved to form what I was assuming would be the top of the SN7 tank.
However, here you can see yet another Liquid Oxygen tank dome that was moved outside and
onto the sleeving mount.
It was then sleeved with a 2 ring stack.
The height of these rings appears to be quite a bit smaller than what we usually see so
this is a bit odd.
What’s also strange is that this bulkhead says “forward dome SN7” so it’s definitely
for SN7.
I’ve seen somebody suggest maybe it could be a bopper like we saw with SN2.
I’m not entirely sure why they would need a bopper since the recent failures weren’t
Starship related.
Though, I doubt it will be long before we find out how this will be used.
As always, a massive thank you to Mary, BocaChicaGal who always gets a wide variety of amazing
footage.
Also a thank you to Julia Bergeron and the rest of the NSF team for all their incredible
work.
That’s it for this episode of TheSpaceXShow, I hope you enjoyed the video, if you did,
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