Booster 20 spent one month inside Mega Bay 1 before rolling out to Pad 2 for the static fire, in what could have been its only rollout to the launch site. SpaceX placed the booster on the launch mount on the afternoon of July 9, then spent the night hooking up the quick disconnects and completing final checks. On the morning of July 10, the methane reclaim vent started at 7:06 am CDT, and ignition of all 33 engines followed at 9:55:55 CDT.<\/p>\n
Booster 20 flew for this test in its flight configuration, with the chines fully closed up and the bolted gap strips in place. It also carried the black paint scheme previously seen in renders and on Booster 19. A few of the engines on Booster 20 originally flew on Booster 19 but were removed due to damage. SpaceX has since repaired those engines and will reuse them on Flight 13.<\/p>\n
The previous record duration for a Super Heavy static fire was set on August 11, 2022, when Booster 7 fired a single engine for 20 seconds. That earlier test ran without a water deluge system and was used to validate the then new autogenous pressurization system. Going straight to a 33-engine static fire on only the second Block 3 booster reflects the confidence SpaceX now has in its hardware and software for both the booster and the launch pad.<\/p>\n
A rollback for Booster 20 has since been confirmed. Reasons for a rollback include removing wire harnesses used to record data during the static fire, installing the Flight Termination System if it is not already in place, and conducting a closer inspection of the engines. The rollback is not expected to significantly push into the July launch window opportunities.<\/p>\n
The record static fire duration is a meaningful technical milestone because it tests sustained performance across all 33 Raptor engines simultaneously, the configuration required for an actual launch. Completing that test on only the second Block 3 booster demonstrates SpaceX’s confidence in the vehicle and pad systems, and the company is now pushing hard to fly Flight 13 as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
Ship 40 remains in Mega Bay 2 receiving final touches. Assuming it needs no further engine testing, it will receive its payload and roll out to the launch site, where it will be stacked on Booster 20. SpaceX will likely conduct either a tanking test or a full Wet Dress Rehearsal due to changes to the tank farm. Based on FAA notices, marine safety notices, navigational hazard warnings, and airspace closures, the launch is currently targeted between July 15 and July 21. Before Starship can fly again, the FAA must either close the mishap investigation into Flight 12 or issue a safety exemption. SpaceX could in theory make next week’s window, but the launch could also slip to the week of July 20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Booster 20 spent one month inside Mega Bay 1 before rolling out to Pad 2 for the static fire, in what could have been its only rollout to the launch site. SpaceX placed the booster on the launch mount on the afternoon of July 9, then spent the night hooking up the quick disconnects and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25965"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}