Hello, we are TheSpaceXFans and welcome to TheSpaceXShow, the place where you can stay
up to date with everything SpaceX.
We have some exciting news today related to Starship.
First though, Mike Hopkins who launched to the ISS on the Crew-1 mission posted a picture
on Twitter.
He said “Had a visitor yesterday checking out SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience.
Making sure the capsule is in good shape for our return to Earth in a few weeks.”
SpaceX posted a couple of cool shots of the Crew-2 capsule and booster rolling out.
They said “Falcon 9 and Dragon rolling out to the pad ahead of launching four astronauts
to the Space Station.
Liftoff targeted for Thursday, April 22 at 6:11 a.m. EDT.”
On Saturday SpaceX also posted a series of other tweets, the first says “Falcon 9 and
Dragon are vertical on Launch Complex 39A.
This will be the first human spaceflight mission to fly astronauts on a flight-proven Falcon
9 and Dragon.”
Another tweet they posted says “The Falcon 9 first stage previously launched the Crew-1
mission, and the Dragon spacecraft previously flew Bob Benkhen and Doug Hurley to and from
the Space Station during the Demo-2 mission.”
Also on Saturday they posted saying “Static fire test of Falcon 9 complete – targeting
Thursday, April 22 at 6:11 a.m. EDT for launch of Dragon’s second operational mission to
the Space Station.”
Michael Sheetz posted a tweet saying “I surveyed over 50 users of SpaceX's Starlink
satellite internet over the past few months, to get their impressions of the service so
far.”
In response to the article Musk said “This is accurate.
Service uptime, bandwidth & latency are improving rapidly.
Probably out of beta this summer.”
Everyday Astronaut responded with “Will users be locked into one location or in the
future if a user has the standard Dishy McFlatface (not a new portable one), could you say put
it on an RV or tiny home?
Or maybe take one you have in Iowa and put it in a studio in Texas.”
Then Musk responded to that and said “Yeah, should be fully mobile later this year, so
you can move it anywhere or use it on an RV or truck in motion.
We need a few more satellite launches to achieve complete coverage & some key software upgrades.”
There was an interesting tweet posted which says “SpaceX’s Bill Gerstenmaier says
the company recently discovered a potential liquid oxygen loading error.
Teams may have been loading too much LOX into Falcon 9 throughout its flight history.
SpaceX will assess the issue before proceeding with Crew-2 hotfire.”
SpaceNews has posted an article about the contract SpaceX has with NASA for the Dragon
XL spacecraft.
It says “One NASA official acknowledged at a recent meeting that, after a year after
awarding the contract, work on the contract has yet to begin.
‘We’ve selected SpaceX, and we’re still working on when we’re going to start that
contract and all the different details, when we’re even going to be able to work with
them on those types of things,’ said Dina Contella.”
Jeff Foust posted a tweet saying “SpaceX amended a filing with the SEC today about
a recent fundraising round.
It now says it raised $1.16 billion, versus $850 million it originally reported.”
Over in Boca Chica, as always, here’s a view of the orbital launch site tank farm
work.
Here’s how the work is coming along on the integration tower base at the orbital launch
site.
The tent 3 expansion in the production yard is almost complete.
Work continues up at the top of the high bay.
Christian Davenport tweeted on Friday “SpaceX bid $2.9 billion for the NASA lunar lander
system--far below Blue Origin and Dynetics--and won the contract, according to a source selection
document obtained by The Post.”
NASA held a livestream on Friday where they announced the winner of the Human Landing
System contract.
[NASA Stream: “We’re really excited to bring you the announcement of who NASA is
going to continue to finish out the Human Landing System, and take humans back to the
Moon.
NASA has chosen SpaceX, to return us to the Moon.
I am so excited to partner with SpaceX, in this fantastic endeavor, for the Artemis suite
of missions.
So, congratulations to the SpaceX team.
The SpaceX design is a single stage solution, using their Starship.
It provides extensive volume for the crew with 2 airlocks and ample down mass capability.
The SpaceX proposal included in-space propellant transfer demonstration, and uncrewed test
landing.”]
SpaceX posted this render in relation to the announcement.
They said “NASA has selected Starship to land the first astronauts on the lunar surface
since the Apollo program!
We are humbled to help NASA Artemis usher in a new era of human space exploration.”
Michael Baylor posted a couple of tweets on the announcement.
The first of them says “SpaceX can pick the launch site for these HLS missions with
Starship.”
The other tweet says “Today NASA formally acknowledged that a fully reusable Starship/Super
Heavy launch system is possible.
This stamp of approval should send shockwaves through the launch industry.
It is time to focus on competing with Starship, not Falcon 9.”
The testing structure in the yard with an old nosecone inside has received a cap.
Raptor SN56 was spotted on a trailer to be taken to McGregor.
There was a tweet by Elon Musk saying “If we make life multiplanetary, there may come
a day when some plants & animals die out on Earth, but are still alive on Mars.”
The mid section of the GSE 3 tank was spotted in the yard.
Pipes were also attached to the upper stack of the GSE 3 tank.
This upper GSE 3 stack has now been stacked.
After testing last week, engineers have been working on SN15 to prepare it for a static
fire coming very soon.
SPadre posted a picture on Twitter of all 3 Raptor engines to be installed onto SN15
on a trailer at the launch site.
Austin Barnard posted some shots of work going on at the orbital launch site.
He said “SpaceX crews are hard at work following two cryo tests, meaning Raptors could be installed
within days!
Progress on the orbital pad is in overdrive, with the launch tower taking shape and the
first GSE tank in place.
Meanwhile BN1 is being scrapped for BN2, which will fly!”
Musk responded with information about SN15 saying “Aiming to launch next week.”
There was originally a road closure scheduled for Friday but that was cancelled earlier
in the week.
As of now, there are dates for tomorrow, Monday 19th, Tuesday 20th and Wednesday 21st.
This is hopefully for a static fire then maybe we could see a flight later in the week as
Musk is hoping for.
To add to this information, a TFR was released with an unlimited altitude for a possible
test flight of SN15 this coming week.
The temporary flight restriction posted on the FAA website is for Tuesday 20th.
A piece of Starship SN16 was moved into the mid bay as they look to start stacking it
soon.
Starship SN20’s common bulkhead stack was spotted.
The Super Heavy Booster Number 2 lower bulkhead stack was spotted out in the yard.
Once again today, we have the latest Starship and Super Heavy build diagram thanks to Brendan
Lewis.
I can’t finish a video without thanking Mary, or BocaChicaGal, who’s out there all
day every day filming the Boca Chica content.
Also thank you to the NASASpaceflight team working hard behind the scenes on their videos,
livestreams and other space content.
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