Starship Development Thread #59

SpaceX Starship page

FAQ

  1. IFT-7 (B14/S33) Launch completed on 16 January 2025. Booster caught successfully, but "Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn." Its debris field was seen reentering over Turks and Caicos.
  2. IFT-6 (B13/S31) Launch completed on 19 November 2024. Three of four stated launch objectives met: Raptor restart in vacuum, successful Starship reentry with steeper angle of attack, and daylight Starship water landing. Booster soft landed in Gulf after catch called off during descent - a SpaceX update stated that "automated health checks of critical hardware on the launch and catch tower triggered an abort of the catch attempt".
  3. Goals for 2025 Reach orbit, deploy starlinks and recover both stages
  4. Currently approved maximum launches 10 between 07.03.2024 and 06.03.2025: A maximum of five overpressure events from Starship intact impact and up to a total of five reentry debris or soft water landings in the Indian Ocean within a year of NMFS provided concurrence published on March 7, 2024

Quick Links

RAPTOR ROOST | LAB CAM | SAPPHIRE CAM | SENTINEL CAM | ROVER CAM | ROVER 2.0 CAM | PLEX CAM | NSF STARBASE

Starship Dev 58 | Starship Dev 57 | Starship Dev 56 | Starship Dev 55 | Starship Dev 54 |Starship Thread List

Official Starship Update | r/SpaceX Update Thread

Status

Road Closures

No road closures currently scheduled

Temporary Road Delay

Type Start (UTC) End (UTC)
Primary 2025-01-19 06:00:00 2025-01-19 10:00:00
Alternative 2025-01-20 06:00:00 2025-01-20 10:00:00

Up to date as of 2025-01-18

Vehicle Status

As of January 18th, 2025

Follow Ringwatchers on Twitter and Discord for more. Ringwatcher's segment labeling methodology for Ships (e.g., CX:3, A3:4, NC, PL, etc. as used below) defined here.

Ship Location Status Comment
S24, S25, S28, S29, S30, S31 Bottom of sea Destroyed S24: IFT-1 (Summary, Video). S25: IFT-2 (Summary, Video). S28: IFT-3 (Summary, Video). S29: IFT-4 (Summary, Video). S30: IFT-5 (Summary, Video). S31: IFT-6 (Summary, Video).
S32 (this is the last Block 1 Ship) Near the Rocket Garden Construction paused for some months Fully stacked. No aft flaps. TPS incomplete. This ship may never be fully assembled. September 25th: Moved a little and placed where the old engine installation stand used to be near the Rocket Garden.
S33 (this is the first Block 2 Ship) Bottom of sea Destroyed/RUD IFT-7 Summary. Launch video.
S34 Massey's Test Site Cryo Testing November 18th: Aft/thrust section stacked, so completing the stacking of S34. January 15th: Rolled out to Massey's Test Site for cryo plus thrust puck testing. January 17th: Cryo tests.
S35 Mega Bay 2 Stacking December 7th: Payload Bay moved into High Bay. December 10th: Nosecone moved into High Bay and stacked onto the Payload Bay. December 12th: Nosecone+Payload Bay stack moved into the Starfactory. December 26th: Nosecone+Payload Bay stack moved into MB2. January 2nd: Pez Dispenser installed inside Nosecone+Payload Bay stack. January 9th: Forward Dome FX:4 moved into MB2 and later stacked with the Nosecone+Payload Bay stack. January 17th: Common Dome CX:3 moved into MB2.
Booster Location Status Comment
B7, B9, B10, (B11), B13 Bottom of sea (B11: Partially salvaged) Destroyed B7: IFT-1 (Summary, Video). B9: IFT-2 (Summary, Video). B10: IFT-3 (Summary, Video). B11: IFT-4 (Summary, Video). B12: IFT-5 (Summary, Video). B13: IFT-6 (Summary, Video).
B12 Rocket Garden Display vehicle October 13th: Launched as planned and on landing was successfully caught by the tower's chopsticks. October 15th: Removed from the OLM, set down on a booster transport stand and rolled back to MB1. October 28th: Rolled out of MB1 and moved to the Rocket Garden. January 9th: Moved into MB1, rumors around Starbase are that it is to be modified for display. January 15th: Transferred to an old remaining version of the booster transport stand and moved from MB1 back to the Rocket Garden for display purposes.
B14 Mega Bay 1 RTLS/Caught Launched as planned and successfully caught by the tower's chopsticks. January 18th: Rolled back to the Build Site and into MB1.
B15 Mega Bay 1 Ongoing work July 31st: Methane tank section FX:3 moved into MB2. August 1st: Section F2:3 moved into MB1. August 3rd: Section F3:3 moved into MB1. August 29th: Section F4:4 staged outside MB1 (this is the last barrel for the methane tank) and later the same day it was moved into MB1. September 25th: the booster was fully stacked. December 21st: Rolled out to Masseys for cryo tests. December 27th: Cryo test (Methane tank only). December 28th: Cryo test of both tanks. December 29th: Rolled back to MB1.
B16 Mega Bay 1 Fully stacked, remaining work ongoing November 25th: LOX tank fully stacked with the Aft/Thrust section. December 5th: Methane Tank sections FX:3 and F2:3 moved into MB1. December 12th: Forward section F3:3 moved into MB1 and stacked with the rest of the Methane tank sections. December 13th: F4:4 section moved into MB1 and stacked, so completing the stacking of the Methane tank. December 26th: Methane tank stacked onto LOX tank.
B17 Mega Bay 1 LOX tank stacking in progress January 4th (2025): Common Dome and A2:4 section moved into MB1 where they were double lifted onto a turntable for welding. January 10th: Section A3:4 moved into MB1 and stacked.

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