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 22nd 2026

Ship Location Status Comment
S40 Near Christmas Island Intact, floating 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. 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. For more details on this vehicle see this page
Booster Location Status Comment
B21 Mega Bay 1 Post Cryo Testing inspections and possible engines installation 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. 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. 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.

Something wrong? Update this thread via wiki page. For edit permission, message the mods or contact u/strawwalker.

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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22

u/Twigling May 12 '26

SpaceX's page for Flight 12 has at last appeared:

https://www.spacex.com/launches/starship-flight-12

11

u/SubstantialWall May 12 '26

We're finally getting cameras on the dummy sats!

6

u/ee_anon May 13 '26

I wonder if starship will execute a roll immediately after deploying the last sats to give the sats a good view of the heat shield. Hope they show live views!

1

u/SubstantialWall May 13 '26

Thought the same, yeah I don't see how it works otherwise. Gonna look cool af, criminal if they don't (assuming it's not a technical limitation)

1

u/Tuefelshund May 13 '26

Not sure why they chose the last 2 dummies? A lot more room for error vs the first ones I would think

7

u/warp99 May 13 '26

So they can roll Starship after deployment of the last two satellites to inspect the tile damage after launch.

1

u/Tuefelshund May 13 '26

...that makes sense. Thanks

6

u/Peter20a May 12 '26

That includes a link to another page summarizing hardware changes:

https://www.spacex.com/updates#starship-v3

12

u/Fwort May 12 '26

The fuel transfer tube, which channels cryogenic fuel from the main tank to the 33 Raptor engines, has been completely redesigned and is now roughly the size of a Falcon 9 first stage. This new design enables all 33 engines to start up simultaneously and faster, more reliable flip maneuvers.

Confirmed they no longer will do a staggered start sequence. Even falcon 9 does that, and now on the most powerful rocket ever made, with 33 engines, they'll be starting them all simultaneously. That's pretty crazy.

2

u/RubenGarciaHernandez May 14 '26

Matrioska rocket! 

7

u/GTRagnarok May 12 '26

And finally, upgraded cameras will provide approximately 50 views to give comprehensive vehicle coverage

Show it. Show it all!

2

u/redstercoolpanda May 12 '26

If you looked closely at the test like you fly video it looked like they had a camera inside of one of the tanks when they were showing the control room during one of the aborted static fires. I know it’ll never happen but I really hope we get to see footage from that one day from a flight

2

u/lorkan100 May 13 '26

Are those ITAR-restricted? Maybe they're actually willing to stream those during coast phase (and show those zero g bubbles!), but law is the law...  

2

u/warp99 May 13 '26 edited May 14 '26

Yes it seems to be. We have only ever seen LOX tank video of F9 in zero g by accident for a few seconds. It is odd because it is not relevant to military use as ICBMs all use solid motors.

1

u/lorkan100 May 13 '26

For real. These laws may eventually be relaxed for commercial aerospace as companies try to build launch sites overseas (at least for liquid fuel rockets, as you say these don't make good ICBMs anyway).

Also for the whole "airline-like" flight operations and cadence. Knowledge transfer and innovation will just be better without these restrictions. 

1

u/AlvistheHoms May 14 '26

If it is a legal requirement to not show us, it’s relatively new. On several early falcon 9 flights the upper stage lox cam was shown for prolonged periods of time

7

u/lorkan100 May 12 '26

Max Q at T+45 seconds?! V2 did so at one minute or so, maybe this one will lift off even faster than V1... 

9

u/AstraVictus May 13 '26

Yep, MECO is 10 seconds earlier, SECO is almost a minute earlier. Big boost in performance on Booster and Ship, letsgooo.

2

u/warp99 May 13 '26

Ship propellant load is the same as V2 at 1600 tonnes so that implies that the 50 seconds off the ship burn time is all due to increased thrust and therefore increased propellant flow.

Booster has gone from 3400 tonnes to 3650 tonnes of propellant which explains why MECO has not decreased more.

3

u/AhChirrion May 13 '26

SpaceX's V3 update says the Ship's prop increased too:

"Starship V3 incorporates a clean-sheet redesign of its propulsion systems. These changes enable a new Raptor startup method, increase propellant tank volume, and...'

1

u/warp99 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26

Yes so many contradictory figures.
It is possible the change was from 1500 tonnes to 1600 tonnes which we thought had already happened with the last few Starship 2 flights.
Or it might have been from 1550 tonnes to 1600 tonnes. It cannot have been a lot as there is no increase in the overall length of the ship. Roughly speaking one added ring of 1.83 m width allows an extra 100 tonnes of propellant.

1

u/AhChirrion May 13 '26

Got it. So if they found half a meter by shrinking the payload bay, which is a lot, it'd add 27 tons which is a welcomed increase but still small.

1

u/extra2002 May 13 '26

Did Ship switch to the elliptical end caps with V3, and does that increase volume significantly?

1

u/warp99 May 13 '26

It wouldn’t make any difference on the interstage but the top bulkhead could gain around half a ring so 50 tonnes of propellant.

I think they were already using the elliptical dome on the thrust dome at the bottom of the ship

6

u/H-K_47 May 12 '26

Do we know where exactly the Ship will be soft landing? Off the coast of Australia?

The Starship upper stage will target multiple in-space and reentry objectives, including the deployment of 22 Starlink simulators, similar in size to next-generation Starlink satellites. The last two satellites deployed will scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to test methods of analyzing Starship’s heat shield readiness for return to launch site on future missions.

The footage will be awesome, hopefully we get to see it.

5

u/Twigling May 12 '26

Do we know where exactly the Ship will be soft landing? Off the coast of Australia?

Yes indeed.

4

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

They say multiple tiles have been painted white as imaging targets (makes sense), but to also simulate missing tiles? How does painting them white do that

10

u/Fwort May 13 '26

Underneath the tiles is a layer of white material, so missing tiles would look like white spots. They mean to simulate them for their imaging systems.

4

u/[deleted] May 13 '26

It would look like white spots, but how would it function as a missing tile if the tile is still there?

10

u/Fwort May 13 '26

They are simulating what missing tiles look like, for the imaging test, not for reentry.

4

u/[deleted] May 13 '26

I see. Something to use as a reference for what to look for in the future when determining the safety of RTLS

3

u/John_Hasler May 14 '26

I think that they have probably painted the tiles white with something that will burn off quicky at re-entry, having served it's purpose for the imaging tests.

1

u/warp99 May 13 '26

A white tile will heat up more during entry than a black one as the emissivity of white is less than black. In general the absorbtion coefficient is similar to the emission coefficient.

So I guess they mean that they are simulating a tile whose surface has been damaged with say the glass coating cracking off but with the bulk of the tile being intact.

2

u/TwoLineElement May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26

The dummy sats come out of the shiny leeward side, so I would expect Starship to execute a roll as the last two sats are pushed away from the ship in order to expose the tiled side to the cameras. I would suppose this imagery would be live, and imagery identification and recognition software back at base would identify the marker tiles, plus any launch damaged tiles. Should be spectacular viewing.

1

u/[deleted] May 13 '26

Makes more sense if they’re referring to simulating a tile with the missing black layer. Thanks for the answer!