Hello, we are TheSpaceXFans and welcome to TheSpaceXShow, the place where you can stay
up to date with everything SpaceX.
To begin this video, we have a few standard SpaceX bits to take a look at.
After which we will head to Boca Chica for infrastructure and Starship development updates.
Let’s head straight in and get up to date…
Starting off, the next cargo resupply mission is expected later in the week.
As you can see on TheSpaceXFans website, CRS-21 is expected to lift off on Saturday 5th at
4:39pm UTC or 11:39am EDT.
Something notable about this launch is that it’s the first Dragon 2 capsule to be outfitted
for cargo missions.
Also once the capsule reaches the ISS, there will be 2 Dragons docked simultaneously.
One of SpaceX’s founding employees, Tom Mueller, retired on Monday.
He tweeted “I retired from SpaceX today!
Thank you Elon Musk, it was quite a ride!”.
Musk tweeted in response and said “Thanks for everything you did to help build SpaceX!
Some of the best memories ever.”
There’s an article posted recently on a website called RankRed which I thought would
be interesting to share.
It’s about hardware and software that is used on SpaceX rockets.
The main points are; “SpaceX vehicles are powered by dual-core x86 processors.”, “In
addition to the Linux operating system, they use LabView, a graphical programming tool
that runs on Windows.”, “Programmers at SpaceX prefer using C++ (and sometimes Python).
“ Also “The vehicle code is on the order of a couple of hundred thousand lines.”
Musk recently received an award in Berlin and Michael Sheetz tweeted about what he said
in terms of timelines for Mars.
The tweet says “Elon Musk, accepting the Axel Springer award in Berlin, says he is
"highly confident" that SpaceX will land humans on Mars "about 6 years from now."
Also Musk said "If we get lucky, maybe 4 years ... we want to send an uncrewed vehicle there
in 2 years."
Taking a look now at a few bits in Boca Chica.
Here’s the latest view of the construction at the orbital launch pad.
As the launch area evolves, another shipping container was spotted being moved.
The modular transporters used for moving large items down the road such as Starships, was
seen moving.
As always before testing events, some propellant was seen being delivered with LOX being refilled
at the tank farm.
Something interesting was spotted with a crane hooked up to a new load spreader that recently
arrived.
Also a new mystery delivery was seen in the production area.
Marcus House tweeted Elon Musk asking “How goes the debate about the legs?
Still thinking they will be similar flip out style to Falcon 9?
If so, how would they be shielded on the windward side for reentry?”
He responded and said “Starship legs are one of the hardest problems.
Externally mounted legs require shielding, which adds mass.
Wider stance adds mass.
Shock absorbers add mass.
That said, we need better legs.”
There’s some new nosecone pieces that were spotted out in the yard as they wait to be
stacked.
The tapered section to the right was also moved a little bit.
Before we take a look at what’s happening with SN8, RGV Aerial Photography posted a
cool shot on Twitter.
There was another tweet which said that the Starship on the right is photoshopped in.
Musk responded to this and said “It will be real soon.”
On Sunday, Michael Baylor tweeted “An alert notice has been given to the residents of
Boca Chica village for Starship testing on Monday, but before you panic, it appears to
be the standard static fire (or similar) notice.”
Musk responded with “Just a static fire tomorrow.
Flight no earlier than Wednesday.”
However, the static fire didn’t happen on Monday, nor on Tuesday as the road closure
was cancelled yesterday.
So, SN8 awaits its 5th static fire and maiden flight to 15km still.
Engineers have continued to work underneath SN8 as the flight preparations continue.
Musk was asked on Twitter “Are you nervous about people watching from the build site?”
He responded with “Static fire is not risky from build site, but we need to clear the
build site for early flights.”
Looking at the road and beach closures, without another static fire yet, SpaceX might perform
the test today.
We also have a new primary road closure of tomorrow, Thursday 3rd for the 15km flight
with a backup on Friday 4th.
Plus, they’ve added another primary closure of Monday 7th, with backups on Tuesday and
Wednesday next week.
Since recording this video, the FAA has added a new temporary flight restriction for space
operations in Brownsville.
This TFR is effective from Friday 4th until Sunday 6th.
So, hopefully on Friday we can expect SN8 to finally lift off.
Next in line and will hopefully be ready soon for testing is the Starship SN9 prototype.
It continues to be welded in the high bay.
Finally, we also have yet another piece of SN15 seen moving with this mid Liquid Oxygen
ring stack moved into a fabrication tent.
As always, I have to say thank you to Mary, known as BocaChicaGal who goes out every day
to film this awesome footage.
Also thank you to the NASASpaceflight team working behind the scenes to bring us great
space coverage.
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!