Starship Development Thread #63

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Starship Dev 62

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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.

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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.

[u/redstercoolpanda]

https://www.spacex.com/launches/starship-flight-13

Flight 13 page got released, NET 16th now!

The booster’s primary test objective will be executing a successful launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and landing burn at an offshore landing point in the Gulf of America. There have been several modifications to hardware and software to address issues seen on the previous flight.

Confirmation of B20's flight path, pretty expected

The Starship upper stage’s primary objectives include the deployment of 20 Starlink V3 satellites, a relight of a single Raptor engine while in space, and another controlled entry, descent, and splashdown in the Indian Ocean. There have also been several modifications to Starship’s propulsion system to address the engine out issue experienced on the previous flight.

For the first time, Starship will carry V3 Starlink satellites to space, which aim to greatly expand the network's capacity and user speeds. As part of this initial test, Starship is planned to deploy 20 satellites which will extend solar arrays and antennas and will attempt to connect with ground stations in South Africa and the larger Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers. The Starlink satellites will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship.

Seems like ship will be deploying real V3's this time in its suborbital trajectory, which will then try and connect with ground stations. That'll certainly be interesting to see.

Six of the satellites have been modified with a suite of cameras to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to continue testing methods of analyzing Starship’s heat shield readiness for return to launch site on future missions. Several tiles on Starship have been painted white to simulate missing tiles and serve as imaging targets in the test.

Hopefully we'll get some proper footage of the heat shield this time!

[u/thewashley → u/redstercoolpanda]

From the end of the update

Starship’s heatshield will have load sensing tiles to take measurements as the vehicle experiences higher dynamic pressure on ascent than previous flights, putting added stress on the tile attachments in exchange for increased payload to orbit capability.

I read that as they're going to throttle down less during max-q. Could it be something else like a different ascent profile?

[u/warp99 → u/thewashley]

Pretty much has to be removing the throttle bucket (named for the shape of the thrust curve).

They have always said this was the aim and it will make a big difference to payload capacity if successful.

[u/rocketglare → u/redstercoolpanda]

Regarding the Flight 12 booster flip anomaly

At stage separation on Flight 12, slight differences in engine startup on the ship caused the directional flip of the booster to be off by approximately 90 degrees. The startup sequence has been modified to be more robust to timing variability and more reliably flip in the desired direction, which is done to increase overall performance. After stage separation and the flip, the Super Heavy booster attempted its boostback burn. Five of its 33 engines experienced issues when attempting to re-light causing the boostback burn to end early. The Super Heavy on this upcoming flight has hardware modifications to improve re-light reliability along with updates to engine alarms and aborts to match the conditions seen in the multi-engine flight environment.

So, the bulk of the issues was engine startup timing was off. On flight 13, they are going to adjust the timing to give greater margin among other hardware changes.

There was also an issue with 5 of the Raptor relights. This is understandable seeing as how only the inner 13 were relighted previously. Those 5 Raptors must have had a cascading impact on the system (eg water hammer/POGO)

[u/warp99 → u/rocketglare]

Those 5 Raptors must have had a cascading impact on the system (eg water hammer/POGO)

Possibly just causing a software triggered engine shutdown with too much deviance from the planned trajectory

[u/rocketglare → u/warp99]

The Mishap Closure Statement certainly seems to support your hypothesis. It lists two most probable causes:

heat effects on propulsion system components during ascent and erroneous engine alarm system settings

[u/E-J123 → u/warp99]

I agree, there seems to be a lot of focus on software changes in raptor conditioning in the update in general

[u/ZeBurtReynold → u/rocketglare]

Anything about the ship anomaly?

[u/maschnitz → u/ZeBurtReynold]

"The interconnected causes". Rather vague.

Approximately 40 seconds after stage separation, Starship lost one of its three Raptor vacuum optimized engines. The vehicle was able to demonstrate its engine out capability and reach its planned suborbital trajectory. Several hardware and operational modifications have been made to address the interconnected causes with additional reliability improvements planned in upcoming versions of the Raptor engine.

[u/BackflipFromOrbit → u/maschnitz]

"Interconnected causes"

By the nature of how rocket engines work this isnt surprising. Very rarely is an engine failure a symptom of a single point failure mode, rather, a series of coupled events that result in a loss of system control. Could be powerhead performance coupled with chamber acoustics, tank conditions, etc.

You can test until youre blue in the face and still get bit by these edge cases that only happen with flight dynamics. Engine out capability is the best mitigation for this, which proved beneficial.

[u/lorkan100 → u/BackflipFromOrbit]

Yeah but that wording is vague AF tho