Hello, we are TheSpaceXFans and welcome to
TheSpaceXShow, the place where you can stay
up to date with everything SpaceX.
Today’s episode we will look at some recent
SpaceX updates including the Demo 2 launch.
Then we will take a look at developments in
Boca Chica, SN4’s recent Rapid Unscheduled
Disassembly, SN5 and SN6.
Let’s head straight in and get up to date…
Starting with the SpaceX updates.
As you will know, the launch didn’t happen
on Wednesday.
Whilst everything went perfectly, the weather
didn’t want to let the vehicle launch.
John Inspruker, the famous SpaceX livestream
host said "It's better to be on the ground
and wishing you were flying, than flying and
wishing you were on the ground."
Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday about Falcon
9 and lightning in response to a Soyuz launch
which got struck by lightning.
He said that “Falcon/Dragon are designed
to withstand multiple lightning strikes, but
we don’t think it would be wise to take
this risk.”
However, on Saturday May 30th, SpaceX made
history…
The booster B1058 lifted off for the first
time to carry the first American astronauts
from US soil to space in 9 years.
It then proceeded to perform a first successful
landing on drone ship Of Course I Still Love
You.
Once Bob and Doug had launched, completed
all their tests and got ready for some sleep,
they gave a little speech and tour of the
capsule.
The men, as tradition in US spaceflight, named
their capsule. Crew Dragon Endeavor!
Whilst producing this video, they’re expected
to arrive in the next couple of hours.
By the time it's released they will probably
have docked with the ISS.
In other news, apparently SpaceX has signed
an agreement with the US Army.
It will enable the Army to test the Starlink
service for three years, which will enable
them to test whether or not it’s a good
fit for their needs.
Over in Boca Chica, we will begin with the
tents that were recently being extended.
You can see here where they recently extended
over the existing door of the second tent.
That door frame still appears to be there,
but it looks like it’s in the process of
being taken down.
Next, over by the new ring building, there
are still a whole bunch of stacked and single
rings waiting for whatever their fate may
be.
You can also see there is something interesting
inside, but it’s not clear what it may be.
The tent that I showed by this building last
episode appears to be in the process of being
deconstructed as you can see here.
Now, let’s take a look at some licensing
provided by the FAA for SpaceX operations.
This license allows SpaceX to perform suborbital
launches for 2 years under certain conditions.
They are required to discover and report any
issues that could affect public safety.
This is applicable throughout the whole process
of any testing they do.
Apparently they were previously set to provide
up to $100 million in launch liability insurance
for Starship.
However, under this new license that has apparently
increased to $198 million.
Another document that was released was a NOTAM
for space operations.
The space ops were permitted for June 1st
and up to 26,000 feet.
However, I highly doubt now that this is still
applicable to SpaceX’s goals as you will
find out soon.
On to SN4, which in recent days has had a
wild ride.
As you can see here, it was originally spotted
getting a hat.
So as it turns out, that welded block of steel
we saw last episode was indeed a mass simulator.
Its addition was also most likely to simulate
the weight of the upper rings and nose cone.
Now onto the juicy stuff, where SpaceX recently
prepared for and performed a fourth successful
static fire of SN4.
It was also the second static fire for Raptor
SN20 whilst attached to the vehicle.
This time though there was no fire and everything
looked good.
The next day they went on to attempt a further
static fire, they fuelled it up and got it
ready.
Then they performed yet another successful
static fire and again, everything looked good.
This marks the fifth SN4 static fire.
However, things then took a turn for the worst.
After many a successful test, SpaceX looked
to be getting ready for even more testing,
but then this happened.
The vehicle suffered a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly
and so its fate was sealed.
Whilst SN4 served her purpose very well, her
demise finally arrived and to be honest I
was somewhat expecting it.
However, remember that this is SpaceX’s
process.
Rapid iteration, you build it, test it, it
fails, you iterate, then repeat the process,
so we could see many more failures to come.
They’ve started to clear the debris for
this prototype and I’m sure they will want
to get everything back to being operational
again quickly.
Looking at the test stand, it looks like some
work will be needed to get it back to a point
where it’s able to support testing again.
However, it’s now time to move on to SN5,
both in the video and in Boca Chica.
You can see here the SN5 nose cone ring section
that recently got bent by the wind.
It appears as though they’ve done some sort
of welding to straighten it out.
I’m curious if they will still attempt to
use this on a Starship or if it will be used
for testing or training.
There’s also the nose cone which appears
to have some new holes integrated into the
very top tapered section.
I’m not entirely sure what these may be
for though.
Not much on SN5, but SN6’s thrust section
is still sitting outside.
We saw it was stacked last episode, but it
still needs a couple more rings attached.
Near the SN5 nose, some new tapered nose cone
sections have been spotted.
There’s also a tapered section spotted in
a tent, so we might see a new nose cone very
soon.
In the high bay, you can see that the section
that was sitting in there has got some more
rings.
I can’t see a bulkhead so I’m going to
guess the next things to complete the tank
section are thrust stack and upper dome.
Here, you can see a new upper bulkhead.
As a guess I would say this dome might be
for SN6 since we haven’t seen an SN6 upper
section yet.
There’s also a new section as you can see
attached to a crane in the same tent.
Looks like it could potentially be moved outside
soon, or maybe it’s just been moved inside.
As always, a massive thank you goes to the
amazing Mary, BocaChicaGal for the great shots
and to the NSF team for sharing.
You’re all doing incredible work!
That’s it for this episode of TheSpaceXShow,
I hope you enjoyed the video, if you did,
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Thanks for watching and have a great day!
