Hey hey hey welcome back and thanks for tuning in to episode 18 of LabPadre's Spacex and Starbase
weekly updates. Now let's dig in! Starting off this week in Florida our new Cape Canaveral launch cam
and Gator cam caught Friday's launch of the USSF-12. This mission for the U.S Space Force's
space system command was launched aboard one of the ULA's Atlas V rockets.
Monday in Starbase the shipload spreader often called the squid was delivered to the launch site.
Early Tuesday morning ship 24 was rolled out of the high bay for its latest trip down highway 4.
During its time at the build site ship 24 not only underwent fit tests with the white
starlink loader but it also received additional arrow covers heat shield tiles some black paint
around the leeward edges of the heat shield a spacex logo and two s24 designation decals.
Shortly after arriving at the launch site the starship was connected to the squid.
First thing Wednesday SpaceX's LR11000 crane lifted ship 24 off the transport stand and placed it on
test stand B. That afternoon the move of the scrap section of b5's lox tank gave us a glimpse of its
outdated side mounted header tank. Wednesday at Port Canaveral having returned from the SES-22
launch Falcon 9 booster B1073 was hooked up to the dockside crane as a beautiful cloud bank rolled in
behind it. Later the booster was lifted to the dock to be prepared for transport to SpaceX's
refurbishment facilities. At Starbase a group of children took a tour of the facilities as SpaceX
works to inspire the next generation. Meanwhile over near the windbreak, progress continued on ship
25 as its payload bay door was lifted and lowered into the cargo barrel section for installation.
That evening saw the first test of booster 7's grid fins with one of the grid fins rotating
back and forth periodically throughout the evening. Back at the build site booster 8's
methane section was moved from mid bay over to mega bay ahead of final stacking.
With its payload door installed ship 25's cargo barrel section was rolled back into tent three.
Just a few minutes later 25's nose cone section moved out of the tent swapping places with it.
Early Thursday morning a self-propelled modular transporter was relocated at the
launch pad to under the raptor maintenance platform. That platform was later moved
from underneath the launch mount and parked next to the e-dome test tank.
Later that morning crews were hard at work on the underside of the orbital launch mount.
New brackets were installed that could be related to the new raptor platform.
Meanwhile a truck loaded with what appears to be crane cribbing left the launch site.
Mid-morning workers went up in the TGM wind services lift to disconnect ship
24 from the squid. During Thursday's testing course
booster 7 was seen venting along with the launch mount and the orbital tank farm.
In mega bay one of the bridge cranes picked up a load spreader in preparation for booster 8's final
stacking. Later crews attached booster 8's methane section to the load spreader ahead of lifting.
That afternoon booster 8's methane section was finally lifted in mega bay and stacked
onto the waiting lock section completing the stacking for SpaceX's newest super heavy booster.
At the cape Thursday brought more action with the falcon 9 launch of the starlink 4-21 mission.
Overnight on Thursday the new raptor service platform for the orbital launch mount was
delivered to the launch site. It's likely that this new platform will be placed on the top of
the existing raptor maintenance stand and then driven under the launch mount where
it can be unfolded and raised to allow access to all 33 raptors at one time. The brackets on
the platform should fit into the brackets on the table to secure the platform to the mount.
We are once again glad to bring you an update from Florida as our photographer Greg Scott took
to the skies this week to bring us aerial images of the facilities at Cape Canaveral. Starting off
at a historic launch complex 39a we can see that a lot has changed since our last flyover.
If we look at the SpaceX horizontal assembly facility we can see falcon 9 booster being rolled
out inside the payload integration ahead of its next launch. On the other side of the building the
falcon 9 transport erector has been moved to the door in preparation for receiving the next rocket
to be launched. Over on the opposite side of the pad we can see a crane working near the cryosphere
that SpaceX seems to be refurbishing into a methane storage tank. At the new starship
area of the launch complex the abundance of cranes is a telling indicator of how rapidly SpaceX is
working to develop this launch infrastructure. The starship launch tower now has the first three
prefabricated steel sections stacked onto the concrete tower base we can also see the central
steel support truss for the elevator has also been erected above the top of the third section.
The mystery structure being built between the starship tower and the falcon 9 tower
has seen the addition of a lot more steel as well as scaffolding around the entire perimeter.
Next to the structure we can see that the smaller yellow crane has been building and stacking large
diameter ring sections. Could this structure and the rings next to it be the start of a new water tower
or will it be something else? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Over at SpaceX's Roberts
Road facility we can see that the expansion of hangar x is still progressing towards completion.
The exterior looks to be nearly finished and work seems to be continuing on the inside.
Across the retention pond work is progressing on the prefabricated tower sections.
Sections 4, 5, 6, and 7 appear to be structurally complete and are just waiting on the internal
mechanical fit outfits before they are ready to roll to the launch site. The bases for the
first two sections have been reinstalled on their concrete foundations which seems to indicate that
SpaceX will use them for further tower section assembly in the near future. Next to the tower
sections, work has begun on the chopsticks which is the lifting and catching arms for the launch tower.
And next to the catching arms we can see that the carriage assembly that will guide these chopsticks
up and down the launch tower is being assembled as well. Behind the chopsticks and carriage we can
also see the construction material that has been staged for building the Roberts Road star factory.
Unlike what we've seen with the Starbase starfactory, construction at Roberts Road
it appears that they are prefabricating the roof sections on the ground while crews are
busy pouring the building's exterior foundation and installing the underground conduit banks .
Work is also underway at blue origin's launch complex 36.
We can see groundwork underway in the northeast corner of the site. The launch complex will be
where Blue Origin launches their New Glenn rocket which is currently expected no earlier than 2023.
Work is also continuing on the expansion of Blue Origin's rocket factory located several miles
northwest of the launch complex. And finally for this flyover we can see Relativity Space's
Terrain One rocket sitting on the pad at launch complex 16. Terrain One is Relativity Space's
expendable 3D printed small lift rocket and they're hoping to work up to their
first full duration hot fire test before their first flight which could come later this year.
And there you have it. Another Spacex and Starbase weekly update with a splash of Blue Origin
brought to you by LabPadre. Make sure you subscribe and hit the alert bell for new
video and live stream notifications. We'll see you next week and thanks for watching... LabPadre out!