As Ship 35 Static Fires, SpaceX has a Fleet a Vehicles Getting Ready for Flight

Date:
Sat, 03 May 2025 19:11:28 +0000

Description:
SpaceX continues to build and test Starships, with a current fleet of four boosters undergoes The post As Ship 35 Static Fires, SpaceX has a Fleet a Vehicles Getting Ready for Flight appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

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SpaceX continues to build and test Starships, with a current fleet of four boosters undergoes refurbishment and testing, along with numerous Ships. Flight 9 might be only a few weeks away, with Ship 35 having completed engine testing; however, it might not have been a nominal test.





Ships

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Ship 35 finished stacking in early February of this year. With the failures
of Ship 33 and Ship 34, SpaceX has spent extra time preparing this Ship for flight. After completing its cryogenic proof testing on March 11 and 12, the ship was rolled back to Mega Bay 2, where it would spend the next six weeks outfitted for static fire testing.

Once rolled out to Masseys last week, Ship 35 completed a pair of static fires. The first was a single engine, which SpaceX said was an in-space burn demonstration.

The second one was a 30-second six-engine static fire that wasnt quite nominal. NSFs livestream shows that a Raptor Vacuum Engine seems to have an abrupt shutdown, resulting in the rest of the engines turning off. Starship Flight 9: Ship 35 Static Fire at Masseys. Seconds after Falcon 9 landed.

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SpaceX might have been trying to replicate the Flight 7 and 8 issues on the ground, pushing an engine too far. If thats the case, SpaceX might have found and solved the issue. Of course, without any official confirmation from SpaceX, this is all speculation. Currently, SpaceX has not released its own footage of the test, unlike after the single engine test.

Ship 35 has since been rolled back to Mega Bay 2 for post-engine testing processing. Regarding when Flight 9 might fly, this couldve pushed back any tentative launch date, which was understood to be centering around May 9/10. This date range is understood to have been ruled out following the test.

It is currently unclear what is next for Ship 35. Normally, SpaceX would roll to the launch site after a short stay back at the Production Site. If teams require additional testing, the Ship would likely roll back out to Masseys
for another Static Fire test. Ship 35 Rollback to Mega Bay 2 (Credit: Rough Riders Show for NSF)

Ship 36 was completed a week after Flight 8, which raised a few questions about why SpaceX would push ahead and finish a Ship after back-to-back failures. However, teams liked felt confident that the fixes could be retroactively installed on a completed ship so crews could push ahead with assembly.

When first assembled, Ship 36 was missing almost all of its tiles. However, just before rollout to Masseys, crews completed large sections of the heat shield on the main tank walls.

These completed sections have a newer heat shield design where the
underlying felt is being cut into hex shapes and then folded up and between the tiles, acting like a gap filler. This process is much simpler and cleaner than using Room Temperature Vulcanizing silicone or RTV. Ship-36 in the Ringyard After Rollback from Masseys (Credit: Rough Riders Show for NSF)

It is noteworthy that Ship 36 took slightly longer to get to cryogenic proof testing than previous ships. This could be because SpaceX has made a few modifications to the Ship due to past failures. With its cryogenic testing completed, Ship 36 is back inside Mega Bay 2 and is currently getting outfitted for Static Fire testing. As the next Ship after Ship 35, it is currently slated to fly on Flight 10.

The objectives for Flight 10 are entirely dependent on how Flight 9
performs, so there is much speculation about what it will try to accomplish.

The fifth fully stacked Block 2 Ship is Ship 37, which was completed only a few weeks ago and is currently in final assembly before heading out for a cryogenic proof test in a couple of weeks. Ship 37 is currently slated for Flight 11 and could be the first Ship to get to orbit, depending on how
Flight 9 performs and what plans SpaceX has for Flight 10. Currently, Ship 37 is missing many tiles and ablative and felt; SpaceX may be waiting on data from Ship 35 before completing its heat shield. Ship 37 on Center Stand in Mega Bay 2 (Credit: Jack Beyer for NSF)

Ship 38 is currently being stacked inside Mega Bay 2, having received its forward dome section this past week. This Ship is slated for Flight 12, and since it is so far out, the objectives for this flight are unknown.

The last Ship with a visible nosecone through the Starfactory windows is
Ship 39, which started visible assembly four months after Ship 38. This pause was odd and might indicate that Ship 39 is the next step for Starship; however, there is no confirmation to say either way.

It is entirely unknown what flight Ship 39 would fly on since SpaceX might have caught a Ship by this point and possibly even be able to reuse it. However, should that become a question, SpaceX will be happy to work with the challenge of Ship order, as it would point to another milestone having been achieved for the Starship program.

Boosters

Booster 14 is slated to fly again on Flight 9 with Ship 35 after flying with Ship 33 on Flight 7. This will be the first reflight of a Super Heavy
Booster, with 29 reused Raptors out of 33 total engines. Currently, Booster
14 is sitting in Mega Bay 1 with its Hotstage installed, waiting on Ship 35
to be ready for flight. It is unclear if SpaceX intends to catch Booster 14 a second time, but teams have been testing the Pad A chopsticks a lot in the past few weeks.

The other already-flown Booster, Booster 15, is currently in Mega Bay 1 undergoing refurbishment. This Booster will likely fly again at some point, but it is unknown which flight it would be for. SpaceX might elect to fly Booster 15 on Flight 11 and then Booster 17 on Flight 12. Booster 14 with a Hotstage Ring (Left) Booster 15 (Right) (Credit: Jack Beyer for NSF)

Booster 16, which has yet to fly, has completed its cryogenic proof testing and should be ready for static fire testing relatively soon. This Booster
will likely fly on Flight 10 since Booster 15 probably wont finish its refurbishment yet. However, it is unknown how long refurbishment actually takes since Booster 14 is currently the only example.

The fourth and final Booster that SpaceX has constructed is Booster 17,
which just recently completed its cryogenic proof testing and is sitting in the rocket garden. With three boosters still inside Mega Bay 1, SpaceX has no room to put Booster 17 and start engine installation. It is likely that once Booster 14 leaves for flight, Booster 17 will take its place to get its engines.

Overall, SpaceX has four fully built Boosters, all of which are the last of the older generation boosters, two of which are flight-proven. Going forward, teams will have options when selecting a booster for a flight. Booster 17 in the Rocket Garden (Credit: Ceaser G for NSF)

The next generation of Boosters, which is assumed to be Booster 18, has yet to start stacking. However, a test tank for testing the aft section and its landing tank is inside the Starfactory. It is unclear when SpaceX will begin stacking the next Booster, but in the past, teams have started new vehicles while still testing with the test tanks.

SpaceX has several completed vehicles and even a fleet of Boosters as Starfactory and the Mega Bays are being used more and more. This will only increase in the future once the Gigabay is built.

Featured Image: Ship 35 at Masseys During its Engine Testing Campaign (Credit: Ceaser G for NSF)



The post As Ship 35 Static Fires, SpaceX has a Fleet a Vehicles Getting Ready for Flight appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



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Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/05/ship-35-sf-spacex-has-fleet-vehicles-f light/


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