Hello, we are TheSpaceXFans and welcome to
TheSpaceXShow, the place where you can stay
up to date with everything SpaceX.
Today’s episode we’ll look at the Demo
2 mission in a few days, then Boca Chica,
SN4, SN5 and SN6.
Quite a bit to cover so let’s head straight
in and get up to date…
As I said we will start with Demo 2 mission
which is literally just around the corner.
SpaceX have tweeted a variety of photos of
Crew Dragon in the hangar.
It’s recently been integrated and then was
rolled out to the pad.
As standard after rollout it was then raised
into the vertical position.
Once it had been rolled out to the pad, and
was vertical, it then underwent a successful
static fire.
When this rocket launches with Bob and Doug,
it will obviously be the first flight from
American soil since 2011.
Doug was actually on the final STS-135 mission
and during that mission this American flag
was left on the ISS.
It was left there so the next American rocket
crew could bring it back, meaning when Demo
2 returns, it will bring back the flag.
One other thing SpaceX tweeted was some information
about the Dragon parachutes.
They tweeted a cool video to showcase various
tests they’ve performed.
The caption also says “SpaceX has completed
nearly 100 tests and flights of its Dragon
parachute systems for cargo missions and in
development of the upgraded Mark 3 design—one
of the safest, most reliable parachute systems
in the world for human spaceflight”.
Over in Boca Chica, SpaceX have been doing
a variety of stuff.
Starting with the new hangar style building
they’ve recently been working on and is
coming together nicely.
They’ve also been working on adding the
walls of the building so it shouldn’t be
long before this is complete.
On the other side of the yard, the other new
hangar type building recently had its door
open.
You can see what sort of looks like bulkhead
pieces, but they also look like they could
be for something else.
If they are bulkhead parts then they’re
for SN7 or SN8.
For a while in the yard, by the high bay there
was scaffolding I believe was used to help
work on sections.
This scaffolding has recently being taken
down so looks like they no longer need it.
There was a recent arrival of some new items.
They look like some tubes and were delivered
to the satellite tracking area.
Unrelated to Starship but thought I would
show them, let me know in the comments if
you know what they could be for.
SpaceX have also had a new delivery of their
own custom food truck.
Over by the launch area before we look at
Starship construction, further work has been
going on.
You can see here that workers have been pouring
more concrete and preparing the landing pad.
As always, there’s also lots of rings and
pieces just sitting around waiting.
You can see here a bunch of rings waiting
but you can also see a downcomer.
I believe SN5 already has its tube, so this
is probably waiting for SN6.
This stacked tank section was also spotted
recently.
In front of it there is a not so ring shaped
ring which is definitely not going on a Starship.
The ring stack on the other hand may be waiting
or it could just be an old test stack.
Engineers have been spotted working on another
Starship section.
Unless SpaceX are changing the bulkhead design,
it seems too steep to be a bulkhead.
This leads me to think it might be a new nose
cone.
However, it looks much different to the other
more recent noses, meaning they could be experimenting
with different builds for now.
On the talk of nose cones, lots of disassembly
has been going on.
You can see here that workers have been deconstructing
the old noses into metal panels.
It seems that they’re getting rid of all
but the new nose cones.
Also it seems they don’t even want the nose
cone we originally thought was for SN5.
You can see here that they’re in the process
of disassembling this one too.
Now, let’s look at SN4 which recently performed
a third successful static fire.
Whilst the fire looked a bit bad, it seems
like SN4 is mostly fine but the launch stand
took a bit of damage.
However, SN4 itself, whilst a bit scorched
is still intact and mostly ok.
Also, it seems that this vehicle may have
lost a TPS tile.
Engineers have continued working inside the
thrust section for SN4.
Some big industrial sized fans were spotted
on some boom lifts so it must get pretty hot
in there.
So even though there was a slight hiccup,
engineers appear to be working towards the
hop test soon.
You can see here that they have been repairing
some minor damage caused by the fire.
There has also been a document released by
Cameron County for road and beach closures.
You can see here that there is a primary date
for testing of May 28th between 6am and 2pm.
There are also backup dates of May 29th and
or June 1st with the same closure times.
So it looks like the hop test is very close
again.
Here’s the latest view of work on SN5 in
the high bay.
You can see the pipes and components on the
side are looking mostly complete.
However it seems there is still some work
that is going on inside.
Also that the SN5 nose cone ring stack has
been moved outside.
It was moved next to the nose cone we saw
being taken apart earlier.
You can see here that engineers have continued
working on the new nose cone.
They seem to have been doing some polishing
of it, like we started to see on the other
nose cone.
It could be quite soon in which we see this
stacked with the ring stack we just saw.
SN5 is coming together nicely but the build
diagram is unchanged, so I won’t bother
showing it.
However, you can see here that a new nose
cone is under construction in a tent.
I’m assuming that this nose cone is for
SN6 since it’s now the only other nose cone,
but it’s also possible it could be SN7.
Also SN6 has entered the high bay and I was
not expecting to see 2 Starships side by side
yet.
I mean right now you can hardly call SN6 a
Starship but seeing 2 builds side by side
is really cool.
Here is the latest build diagram from Rafael.
We’ve seen enough pieces in the past for
a full SN6 tank section now.
For now though, it looks like we have an SN4
hop on or around May 28th, the day after they
launch astronauts for the first time.
Also as per last episode, we could see SN5
testing as early as June, assuming the 3km
hop is actually for SN5.
As is always the case, here is my thank you
message to Mary, BocaChicaGal and the NSF
team for these amazing clips.
We all fully appreciate your work and effort.
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!
