What SpaceX Just Did with Starship S39 & B19 Could Change the Entire Space Industry

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What SpaceX Just Did with Starship S39 & B19 Could Change the Entire Space Industry === #alphatech #techalpha #spacex #elonmusk === What SpaceX Just Did with Starship S39 & B19 Could Change the Entire Space Industry Things at Starbase have been moving really quickly lately, and it’s starting to look like the next Starship flight isn’t far off. The clearest sign is Ship 39, now fully stacked with its entire heat-shield system installed inside Megabay 2. Not far from there, Booster 19 is also coming together at a remarkable pace inside Megabay 1, and it just received a special new component that shows the build is progressing smoothly. So, how far along are these vehicles? And when exactly will Flight 12 take place? Let’s dive into today’s episode of Alpha Tech. What SpaceX Just Did with Starship S39 & B19 Could Change the Entire Space Industry We were supposed to be just about a month away from an exciting milestone, the long-awaited Starship Flight 12. This flight would’ve been special, featuring the brand-new Starship Version 3, Ship 39, paired with the Version 3 Super Heavy, Booster 18. But everything changed after the incident on November 21st. During a pressure test, Booster 18’s LOX tank catastrophically failed, ripping open its structure and leaving the entire vehicle beyond recovery. Not a single major section could be reused, so SpaceX had no choice but to cut it apart piece by piece using a laser torch and move the remains into storage. It wasn’t until the afternoon of December 5th that the last remaining section of the booster was finally lifted by crane and moved to another test stand, on its way to complete recycling, and to clear the area for what comes next. With Booster 18 gone, Booster 19 is now preparing to roll out from Megabay 1 to Massey’s, where it will take on the cryogenic test that Booster 18 never got the chance to complete. What SpaceX Just Did with Starship S39 & B19 Could Change the Entire Space Industry But is Booster 19 really moving that fast? Of course not, at least not to that extreme. After the Booster 18 failure, SpaceX pushed the entire workforce to ramp things up, hard. Because any delays now would threaten every major milestone planned for this year: reaching orbit, catching a Starship with the tower, and even attempting the first orbital refilling demo. And the pressure shows. On November 26th, just five days after the incident, the first section of Booster 19 rolled out of Starfactory and went straight into Megabay 1. The next day, the common dome section followed. On the 29th, they moved in the A3:4 section. On December 2nd, another section arrived. And by early morning on December 4th, the A6:4 section made its way into MB-1, quickly followed by the bottom half of the transfer tube. So in just about nine days, SpaceX rolled every major section needed to build an entire booster, a record-breaking pace, considering this process usually takes one to three months. And they didn’t just roll the parts in; they actually stacked most of them. === Subcribe Alpha Tech: https://www.youtube.com/@alphatech4966/?sub_confirmation=1 ===