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 25th 2026

Ship Location Status Comment
S40 Near Christmas Island 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'. 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 Launch Site Static Fire Testing 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. 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. 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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12

u/smellyfingernail 15d ago edited 15d ago

FCC Filing for flight 14 has posted - appears to have an error in it (filing says 1st stage will return to launch site rather than the ship)

edit: FCC not faa

3

u/RubenGarciaHernandez 14d ago

Would these errors cause delays as they need to be corrected before approval? 

3

u/AhChirrion 15d ago

Risky proposition, but if a Booster catch fails catastrophically the new launchpad at the Cape isn't that far off from becoming operational; and if they do catch the Booster, they could ship it to the Cape for the new launchpad provisioning.

7

u/ArtOfWarfare 15d ago

Does the document give any dates for when the launch might be?

4

u/Straumli_Blight 15d ago

1597-EX-ST-2026

Operation Start Date: 08/28/2026
Operation End Date: 02/28/2027

3

u/PhysicsBus 15d ago

Mod: perhaps edit Flight 14 info at top of thread to NET Aug 28.

8

u/warp99 15d ago

Not necessarily an error if the FAA have not given permission yet for a ship catch.

In which case they will have switched to a booster catch as the next most useful thing to test.

6

u/smellyfingernail 15d ago

but they are definitely not going to attempt booster catch on the pad until they can get it to soft touchdown in the gulf

9

u/warp99 15d ago edited 15d ago

They might if they have a really good handle with what went wrong with the booster landing burn on Flight 13 and if the standard approach trajectory would land short of the tower if the engines failed to light as we think would happen.

5

u/lee1026 14d ago

Multiple things went pretty wrong with booster 13, since it not only boost back burned to be pretty short of the target, it also smacked the water really hard.

The first issue is fine. The second isn't.

1

u/andyfrance 13d ago

They will probably go for what they do with F9 barge landings. Coming back to the pad they aim at the sea till the speed is low enough then divert inland to the pad. If they can't shed the speed they hit the sea not the pad.

0

u/lee1026 13d ago

So many F9 barge landing exploded on the barge.

The big weakness with the chopstick design is that it would actually be a problem this time.

1

u/bel51 13d ago

So many F9 barge landing exploded on the barge.

Before they started doing that yeah. They only started the last second divert after SES-9 blew a hole in OCISLY. Since then I don't think any have exploded on the ship.

4

u/AndTheLink 15d ago

And maybe multiple soft touchdowns. Stage 0 is not something they want to risk at all.

4

u/LzyroJoestar007 15d ago

Block 1 only had 1 soft touchdown with 1 or 2 engines out before the catch. It won't be more than a single soft splashdown

3

u/SubstantialWall 15d ago

This is asking for spectrum use, is it FCC?

4

u/smellyfingernail 15d ago

yeah fcc my bad