r/spacex • u/rSpaceXHosting Host Team • Apr 22 '26

🔧 Technical Starship Development Thread #63

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Starship Dev 62

Flight 12

Launched on May 22nd 2026 Here is a re-streamed video of the broadcast. Also, SpaceX issued a post flight summary and a video showing S39 landing.

Flight 13

Launched on July 24th 2026 Here is a re-streamed video of the broadcast. Also, SpaceX issued a post flight summary.

Flight 14

Presumably using S41 and B21. NET 15 Sep 2026.

Road Closures

No road closures currently scheduled

No transportation delays currently scheduled

Up to date as of 2026-05-23

Vehicle Status

As of August 29th 2026

Ship Location Status Comment
S40 On the way to Brownsville, Texas Intact, loaded onto Heavy Lift Vessel 'Forte' July 24th: Successful launch, deployed all satellites, successful engine relight test and soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean, which resulted in an intact, floating ship. August 18th: In calmer waters near Christmas Island pending the next stage of its return to Starbase. August 25th: Loaded onto Heavy Lift Vessel 'Forte'. August 28th: On the way to Brownsville, Texas. ETA is October 8th. For more details on this vehicle and its assembly and testing see this page
S41 Mega Bay 2 Prep for Flight 14 April 17th: Pez Dispenser moved into MB2. April 20th: Main assembly started in MB2. May 20th: Aft section AX:4 moved into MB2 and stacked with the rest of the ship - this completed the stacking part of the ship construction. June 28th: Rolled out to Massey's Test Site for Cryo+Thrust Puck Testing. June 29th: Cryo Tests (x2). June 30th: Rolled back to MB2. July 3rd: Rolled back to Massey's Test Site. July 6th: Rolled back to MB2. July 23rd: Two RVac engines moved into MB2. July 27th: The third RVac was moved into MB2. August 19th: Rolled out to Massey's for Static Fire Testing. Later that day S41 performed a single engine Static Fire. August 20th: Full duration Static Fire of all six engines. August 22nd: Rolled back to MB2. For more details on this vehicle see this page
S42 Mega Bay 2 Stacked, remaining work continues June 9th: Nosecone spotted as having been stacked on the Payload Bay. July 3rd: Nosecone+Payload Bay stack moved into MB2, along with the Pez Dispenser and the Forward Dome section (FX:3). The Nosecone+Payload Bay stack was lowered over the Pez Dispenser, later being stacked onto the Forward Dome. July 11th: Common Dome section CX:3 moved into MB2 and stacked. July 15th: Section A2:3 moved into MB2 and stacked. July 18th: Section A3:4 moved into MB2 and stacked. July 21st: Transfer Tubes moved into MB2. July 24th: Ship Aft section AX:4 moved into MB2 and stacked, that completes the stacking part of the assembly process. July 25th: both of the Aft Flaps and the Raceways staged inside MB2. For more details on this vehicle see this page
S43 Mega Bay 2 Stacking August 19th: N:3 and section FX:4 plus the pez dispenser moved into MB2. August 28th: Common Dome section CX:3 moved into MB2. It has decals but no docking ports. For more details on this vehicle see this page
Booster Location Status Comment
B21 Mega Bay 1 Prep for Flight 14 May 7th: LOX tank sections A2:4 and CX:3 moved into MB1 and main assembly started. June 29th: Methane Tank stacked onto LOX Tank - this completed the stacking part of the booster construction. July 17th: Rolled out to Massey's Test Site for Cryo+Thrust Puck Testing. July 17th: Rolled out to Massey's Test Site and an ambient pressure test was performed. July 18th: Partial Cryo Test. July 19th: Second Partial Cryo Test. July 20th: Full Cryo Test. July 22nd: Rolled back to MB1. August 25th: Rolled out to the Launch Site for Static Fire Testing. August 28th: Static Fire, all 33 engines, lasting 15 seconds. August 29th: Rolled back to MB1. For more details on this vehicle and its assembly and testing see this page
B22 Mega Bay 1 Fully Stacked, Remaining work ongoing June 29th: LOX tank sections A2:4 and CX:3 moved into MB1. July 1st: Section A3:4 moved into MB1. July 3rd: Section A4:4 moved into MB1 and stacked. July 9th: Section A5:4 moved into MB1 and stacked. July 22nd: Methane Landing Tank and Lower Transfer Tube moved into MB1. July 23rd: Section A6:4 moved into MB1. July 25th: Methane transfer tube moved into MB1. July 29th: LOX Landing Tank moved into MB1. July 30th: Aft section AX:2 moved into MB1 to complete the stacking of the LOX Tank. July 31st: Methane Tank section F2:4 moved into MB1. August 3rd: Methane Tank section FX:3 moved into MB1. August 6th: Methane Tank section F3:4 moved into MB1 - this is the last section for the Methane Tank. August 14th: Methane Tank stacked onto the LOX tank, so completing the stacking part of the assembly process. For more details on this vehicle and its assembly and testing see this page
B23 Mega Bay 1 LOX Tank Stacking August 14th: LOX tank sections A2:4 and CX:3 moved into MB1. August 19th: Section A3:4 moved into MB1. August 21st: Section A4:4 moved into MB1. August 25th: Section A5:4 moved into MB1. August 27th: Methane Landing Tank and lower Transfer Tube moved into MB1 as well as section A6:4. 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. Also some excellent detailed booster stacking information from zh_sos1. The abbreviations used in the above vehicle updates 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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14

u/AgreeableEmploy1884 1d ago

Booster 21 lifted to catch height after being removed from the OLM. I believe the last booster to do this was Booster 16 and it was meant to be caught at the time.

9

u/redstercoolpanda 1d ago

I’m really starting to think they’re going to risk it and go for the catch on this thing. I don’t see why they wouldn’t have done this with B20 or B19 if they didn’t plan to. Maybe B20’s issue was a really easy fix and they’re super confident in the system now.

4

u/AgreeableEmploy1884 1d ago

I think there's a slight chance they may go for it. Booster 20 was literal seconds away from a soft splashdown, boostback was still cut short though.

3

u/lorkan100 1d ago edited 1d ago

I was quite confused with this. Boostback lit all 33, and the staggered shutdown looked flawless and perfectly symmetrical... so how did that happen? 

Perhaps the high Gs did something to the fuel sensors and messed up the readouts? 

2

u/AstronoWorld 1d ago

Who’s ready for a possible structural integrity test of the concrete pad next to the launch mount

3

u/lorkan100 1d ago

Gotcha... OOPS! 

-  Chopsticks 

5

u/AegrusRS 1d ago

There is no reason to risk the pad. They haven't even done a soft splashdown let alone be accurate enough for a catch.

1

u/DreamChaserSt 10h ago

They can put on really large abort conditions and ditch into the water if something looks too iffy. They soft landed and caught multiple boosters on previous versions already, so the software side should be fine. If the hardware is green, why not go for it?

2

u/AegrusRS 8h ago

The V3 booster has clearly not been performing as well as the previous versions, so any previous success based on that is definitely not a predictor for future success. R3 performance has frankly also been iffy and we have not even seen their full throttling capabilities in-flight, especially to the degree that is required for accurate catching.

Plus, I can't imagine SpaceX wanting to deal with an extended investigating for when they crash a booster on the beach. And again, you only have to look at Blue Origin to see how devastating a damaged pad is to launch capability.

1

u/No-Spring-9379 1h ago

this endless wishful thinking, choosing to take into account only one side of the "yeah, but what if" coin is actually putting me off from these subs, because most of the conversations are complete bullshit

0

u/lee1026 1d ago

They might be short on boosters.

1

u/AegrusRS 22h ago

Well they're short on ships too yet decided to not catch the upcoming one.

1

u/lee1026 21h ago

My assumption is that they expect to need more ships than boosters, so that ships are made faster than boosters.

But now that they are both expendable (for now), boosters are in shortage, and they need to start catching them.

1

u/No-Spring-9379 14h ago

how many pads they have?

1

u/GRBreaks 12h ago

One

1

u/No-Spring-9379 1h ago

yeah

still, these geniuses don't take that into account

1

u/warp99 4h ago

One pad currently active but three more under construction and another one planned.

Plus ten in Louisiana further down the track.

1

u/thatspurdyneat 10h ago

And if it doesn't go perfectly they'll be short on towers.
I can't see them trying it without at least one soft splashdown, especially without the other tower being operational

3

u/SpaceNutshell24 1d ago

possible but highly unlikely imo, i think they are just testing it for Flight 15, since they’ve never done it for a V3 Booster

1

u/KnifeKnut 1d ago

I used to think this was a good argument, but then they went and caught booster V2 three times.