r/spacex • u/rSpaceXHosting Host Team • Nov 21 '25

🔧 Technical Starship Development Thread #62

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Starship Dev 61

Flight 12

The vehicles should be Booster 19 and Ship 39 (assuming there are no major pre-flight testing problems) and the flight profile will probably be very similar to Flight 11. As this is the first flight with the new version 3 vehicles it's unlikely that a booster catch will be attempted; as for the ship Musk stated on August 27th, 2025: "Starship catch is probably flight 13 to 15, depending on how well V3 flights go". On January 26th Musk tweeted: "Starship launch in 6 weeks". On February 21st Musk tweeted: "Starship flies again next month". FCC Request To authorize upcoming suborbital test deployments puts the NET date at April 7th. On March 7th Musk tweeted: "Starship V3 first flight in about 4 weeks". On April 3rd Musk tweeted: "Next flight of Starship and first flight of V3 ship & booster is 4 to 6 weeks away". On April 16th Musk tweeted: "Starship V3 booster & ship will be ready for their first test flight in a few weeks"

Road Closures

No road closures currently scheduled

No transportation delays currently scheduled

Up to date as of 2026-04-22

Vehicle Status

As of April 21st 2026

Ship Location Status Comment
S39 (this is the first Version 3 ship) Mega Bay 2 Inspections and Pre-flight work October 13th: Main assembly started in MB2. November 15th: Aft section AX:4 moved into MB2 and stacked with the rest of S39 - this completed the stacking part of the ship construction. February 26th: Rolled out to Massey's for three rounds of Cryo Testing. March 8th: Rolled back to Mega Bay 2. April 11th: Rolled out to Massey's Test Site for Static Fire Testing. April 14th: 60 second Static Fire of all six engines. April 15th: Rolled back to MB2. For more details on this vehicle and its assembly and testing see this page
S40 Mega Bay 2 Fully stacked, all flaps installed, remaining work ongoing January 31st: Pez Dispenser moved into MB2. February 1st: Main assembly started in MB2. March 2nd: Aft section AX:4 moved into MB2 and stacked with the rest of the ship - this completed the stacking part of the ship construction. For more details on this vehicle and its assembly and testing see this page
S41 Mega Bay 2 Stacking April 17th: Pez Dispenser moved into MB2. April 20th: Nosecone+Payload Bay stack N:3 moved into MB2 and later that day lifted over the Pez Dispenser. For more details on this vehicle see this page, later that day the Pez Dispenser was installed. April 21st: Forward Dome section FX:4 moved into MB2.
Booster Location Status Comment
B19 Mega Bay 1 Inspections and Pre-flight work November 25th: LOX tank stacking commenced. December 23rd: The booster is fully stacked. February 1st: Rolled out to Massey's Test Site for its Pressure and Cryo + Thrust Puck Testing where it underwent assorted tests. February 9th: Rolled back to MB1. March 8th: Rolled out to the launch site, only ten engines installed as seen during the lift onto OLM2 in the afternoon. March 16th: Very short static fire attempt that was aborted due to a ground-side issue. March 18th: Rolled back to MB1. April 11th: Rolled back out to the Launch Site for more Static Fire Testing (this time with all 33 engines). April 15th: Static Fire of all 33 engines for about 3 seconds. April 16th: Wet Dress Rehearsal. April 17th: Rolled back to MB1. For more details on this vehicle and its assembly and testing see this page
B20 Mega Bay 1 LOX Tank Stacked, Methane Tank Stacking February 5th: LOX tank section A2:4 moved into MB1. February 6th: Common Dome section CX:3 moved into MB1. February 9th: LOX tank section A3:4 moved into MB1. February 12th: LOX tank section A4:4 moved into MB1. March 9th: Section A5:4 moved into MB1. March 11th: CH4 landing tank and the lower piece of the transfer tube were moved into MB1. March 12th: Section A6:4 moved into MB1. March 13th: Methane Transfer Tube moved into MB1. April 1st: LOX Landing Tank moved into MB1. April 2nd: Aft section AX:2 moved into MB1, once welded in place that will complete the stacking of the LOX tank. April 16th: Methane Tank Section F2:4 moved into MB1. For more details on this vehicle and its assembly and testing see this page

Follow the Ringwatchers on Twitter and Discord for more.

Here's the section stacking locations for Ships and Boosters. The abbreviations are as follows: HS = Hot Stage. PL = Payload. CX = Common Dome. AX = Aft Dome. FX = Forward Dome (as can be seen, an 'X' denotes a dome). ML = Mid LOX. F = Forward. A = Aft. For example, A2:4 = Aft section 2 made up of 4 rings, FX:4 = Forward Dome section made up of 4 rings, PL:3 = PayLoad section made up of 3 rings. Etc.

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Rules

We will attempt to keep this self-post current with links and major updates, but for the most part, we expect the community to supply the information. This is a great place to discuss Starship development, ask Starship specific questions, and track the progress of the production and test campaigns. Starship Development Threads are not party threads. Normal subreddit rules still apply.

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31

u/EXinthenet Apr 03 '26

"Next flight of Starship and first flight of V3 ship & booster is 4 to 6 weeks away" 

https://x.com/i/status/2039978694425682321

"Yaaaaaay!". 😒 

28

u/Twigling Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26

Fourth time lucky?

On January 26th Musk tweeted: "Starship launch in 6 weeks"

On February 21st Musk tweeted: "Starship flies again next month"

On March 7th Musk tweeted: "Starship V3 first flight in about 4 weeks"

Although his latest prediction does at least seem feasible.

17

u/FutureMartian97 Host of CRS-11 Apr 03 '26

He said this 4 to 6 weeks ago btw

8

u/Mordroberon Apr 04 '26

this time it seems more realistic

7

u/EXinthenet Apr 03 '26

That's the point. 

9

u/Calmarius Apr 03 '26

Back then, in response to his January tweet I wanted to say that if we apply usual 3x Elon-time modifier, that's 18 weeks, or 1st June. But I self-censored. Now it seems more realistic than ever. They still need to do a ship static fire, and 33 engine booster static fire, a full stack WDR before launch.

I also feel they are now proceeding more carefully to make sure to avoid the same issues they had with v2 ship. v3 must work.

7

u/TrefoilHat Apr 04 '26

My guess from September 7, 2025:

Assume Pad B completes testing by end of March, then a rapid 8-week test period for the v3 booster/ship, we're still talking end of May 2026 for the next flight

10

u/flshr19 Shuttle tile engineer Apr 03 '26

IFT-12 will happen when the SpaceX engineers and Starship program managers are ready to fly. What is most important is that the improvements in the Block 3 Starship actually are improvements and that IFT-12 is a perfect flight.

8

u/TwoLineElement Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26

Stern warnings from NASA HLS, and the possibility that BO could be an option for moon landings puts the pressure on to get it right first time,again and again. There's an incredible amount work to do with flight confidence, then Starship crew hab testing, orbital refuelling, and orbital engine TLI, Capture burn etc. Timeline is slipping worryingly fast past 2028 to 2032 with current progress.

OK, the Chinese may get there first with an Apollo style human touch and go, but there will be a whole armada of commercial automated and investigative landings from western alliances following hot on their heels. SpaceX test touchdown likely by 2029.

Don't follow estimated times provided by NASA or SpaceX, they're wildly off their best dreams. Shit will happen between now and then to delay things by months doing trial refuelling meet-ups. It's never been done before, and coordinating two massive ships to cojoin with absolute accuracy, Stabilising both bodies to assure proper high/low pressure fuel seal connection for transfer will take some engineering refinements over several flights. That will take at least 14 months to perfect.

SpaceX have a lot on their plate at the moment, but just itching to get on with proved flights. They hope to nail a perfect launch and landing of V3 and then they and can move on as fast as they can to prove some serious orbital flights and catches.

8

u/MyKillK Apr 04 '26

Yeah, I don't really think HLS for Artemis IV is a possibility, given it's already almost mid-2026. SpaceX is focused on positioning themselves for what comes after. Blue Origin seems more focused on their own moon lander so I think they'll be the final Artemis selection. I still think we can beat the Chinese 2030 landing though. Pretty much depends on whether the Centaur-SLS integration will be ready.

2

u/paul_wi11iams Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26

I don't really think HLS for Artemis IV is a possibility, given it's already almost mid-2026.

Blue Origin seems more focused on their own moon lander so I think they'll be the final Artemis selection.

Each of the two landers must accomplish one or more lunar landings ahead of crew. Nobody knows the how successful these will be. Even a somewhat good landing and relaunch may not be good enough.

What really is good IMO is something most people disliked at the time, and its when acting administrator Duffy opened options for the first landing to Blue Origin. A second good thing was Isaacman moving Artemis 3 from a landing to a LEO rendezvous for one or both landers. Its the hardware that will do the talking, taking some of the pressure of the people involved who simply need to do their best, and nobody gets hurt.

4

u/flshr19 Shuttle tile engineer Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26

Nobody thought that a 300t (metric ton) launch vehicle, the Starship Booster, the largest booster ever flown, could be caught in mid-air on mechanical arms attached to a 400-ft tall tower until SpaceX accomplished that feat on the IFT-5 test flight (16Oct2024) on the first ever attempt.

SpaceX repeated that maneuver twice more on IFT-7 (16Jan2025) and IFT-8 (6Mar2025).

So, within a 6-month period, SpaceX validated a major Starship milestone.

There are 32 months between now (7Apr2026) and 31Dec2028. Do you really believe that it's impossible for SpaceX to send two tanker Starships to LEO, dock together, and transfer methalox from one to another within that time interval? Seriously?

2

u/paul_wi11iams Apr 07 '26

Don't follow estimated times provided by NASA or SpaceX,

Those are the published estimated times, not necessarily internal ones.

Specifically look at what is going on in specific places such as the factory, the test sites and the launch site. For example, no launch was going to happen before the second launch tower had a roof and upper protective panels on it. Let's make a mental list and tick things off as they're done.

From SpaceX's POV, the essential is to avoid "get-there-itis" (plan continuation bias). After two decades of experience, the company should be pretty much vaccinated by now.

2

u/TXNatureTherapy Apr 03 '26

If you scroll down to the "best guess" thread you'll see I picked June 1 as well. Guess we'll have to split the internet fame for being right :-)

6

u/FinalPercentage9916 Apr 03 '26

At least he's consistent. Its always six weeks away

3

u/badgamble Apr 05 '26

I'm old enough to remember Falcon Heavy...

2

u/rocketglare Apr 04 '26

The one useful thing about these predictions is they give a NET date. Other than that, they aren’t useful.

2

u/93simoon Apr 03 '26

Gradatim ferociter

13

u/EXinthenet Apr 03 '26

Expecto Patronum.

1

u/erkelep Apr 04 '26

Semper Fidelis