Starship S30 Firing, Upgrade Heat Shield Still Falling? Flight 5 Launch Timeline...

the fifth ITF draws ever closer it's fast approaching with SpaceX having just completed a major Preparatory test the static fire for the ship 30 second stage prototype what's more notable is that this iteration dons the new heat shield meanwhile work on the nearby launch Tower is ramping up exponentially Additionally the schedules for the two upcoming crew missions crew 9 and Polaris have been updated along with major changes related to Future Crew Centric missions let's find out more in today's episode of great SpaceX before we dive in I want to share some exciting news mid August is shaping up to be a Monumental period for SpaceX with many groundbreaking advancements on the horizon why is that stay tuned to discover what incredible developments May unfold the upcoming flight is poised to introduce several significant changes most notably ship 30 is set to make a Major Impact with its newly equipped heat shield system after being transported to the Massie test site on July 21st SpaceX geared up to conduct the next static fire with this prototype this crucial test not only verified the reliability of the newly replaced engines but more importantly assessed the effectiveness of the new heat shield system and after a few days of anticipation the test was conducted on July 26th it caught me a bit by surprised since there was no road closure schedule announced this highlighted an advantage of the Massie test site that I hadn't mentioned before located a considerable distance from Highway 4 SpaceX can perform tests without needing to close the road unlike previous testing sites back to the test after the familiar processes such as venting fuel loading and engine chilling it was time for the engines to show their power at around 1700 hours 32 minutes CDT the s 30 engines fired in unison creating an impressive spectacle reminiscent of the s26 test in early June from my observation the engines fired for 8 seconds similar to other static fire tests the thrust generated was around 1,500 tons with the replaced Raptor vacuum demonstrating excellent performance and reliability regarding the heat shield system an image revealed a few tiles falling off at least three however there's no need to worry this is the first test with the new system and issues are to be expected SpaceX will promptly address and resolve these concerns anyway the s30 seems to be ready for the next steps right now it only has the last big test the wet tress rehearsal along with the b11 Prototype as for b11 it just completed a static fire on July 15th this booster is currently at Mega Bay likely undergoing system checks and hot staging installation I believe it will be rolled to the Launchpad sometime next week to match the timing of b11 after the static fire test the s30 will likely soon return to the production site for further checks before heading to the Launchpad therefore next week at Starbase promises to be extremely busy as for the launch schedule there have been no further updates since Elon musk's hints about a launch around the end of this month or early next if my progress predictions are correct the launch date will probably be around mid August besides the prepar ations SpaceX will also have to wait for FAA approval however this will likely be incredibly fast since SpaceX didn't need to conduct mishap investigations like previous flights and since the launch schedule is uncertain you can make your own predictions in the comments section down below also don't forget to like share and subscribe to our channel to continue following spacex's development Journey that's the preparation for flight 5 while we're on the topic of star base let's update you on the progress of the launch tower construction currently the launch Tower stands with four segments stacked on the evening of July 25th the fifth segment was moved to the launch site I anticipate it will likely be stacked as early as this weekend which would complete more than half of the process within the configuration 1 time frame in fact this progress seems slower than the faa's initial plan according to that plan SpaceX was expected to stack six segments in configuration 1 by July 27th however this delay may not be too critical because SpaceX can shift one segment to configuration 2 which has a deadline of August 15th originally the plan was to stack the remaining three Tower sections in this phase but SpaceX could potentially move one segment from configuration one into this period either way we can be confident that the launch Tower will be completed by mid August next let's move on to the latest update regarding spacex's crew n missions scheduled for next month firstly the missions scheduled has been set the latest update from NASA reveals that crew 9 is slated for launch on August 18th utilizing the LC 39a launch system in addition to the launch schedule both SpaceX and NASA have provided another important update regarding crew 9 in their briefings specifically this mission may be the last to splash down in the ocean near the US East Coast or the Atlantic repeated issues with large chunks of debris from Dragon specifically the trunks containing Fuel and electrical supplies have caused concerns as these pieces have crashed down in various locations from Australia to North Carolina to address this future spacecraft potentially starting with crew 10 may be tasked to splash down on the US Pacific Coast Instead This was promptly confirmed by SpaceX on their ex account Dragon recovery operations set to return to the US West Coast in 2025 Sarah Walker spacex's director of dragon mission management explained so what we'll do is we'll Implement a software change to complete the deorbit burn before jettison the trunk like we did with dragon one and then the trunk will intentionally land safely uprange in an unpopulated area of the ocean again um so to make this change possible we'll move a dragon recovery vessel to the Pacific sometime next year aside from less space junk the Pacific coast tends to be subject to fewer instances of extreme weather and hurricanes potentially adding more predictability for scheduling the end of crude missions Walker noted previously Dragon spacecraft landed in the Pacific Ocean during the first 7 years of operation however since 2019 the recovery operations have shifted to the east coast Landing in the Atlantic SpaceX described this change as enabling teams to unpack and deliver critical cargo to NASA teams in Florida more efficiently and transport Crews more quickly to Kennedy Space Center additionally the proximity of the new splash down locations to spacex's Dragon processing facility at Cape canaval space force station in Florida allowed SpaceX teams to recover and refurbish Dragon spacecraft more rapidly supporting a growing Dragon manifest following Nas's demo 2 mission in August of 2020 the two missions that initiated this change were demo 1 and CRS 21 however in 2022 debris from the crew one trunk was discovered in Australia SpaceX added to date the majority of trunk debris has re-entered over unpopulated ocean areas in the last 6 months however SpaceX became aware of three new cases where trunk debris was found on land while there have been no reports of structural damage or injuries from these incidents they highlight potential safety concerns so SpaceX will return to landing on the west coast starting with crew 10 in the crew 9 briefing crew 10 was scheduled to launch next February but before that let's enjoy crew 9 in the middle of August we'll fly to the ISS while a spacecraft still cannot return if you know which spacecraft I'm talking about please respond with a laugh emoji and its name in the comment section down below and now we'll discuss an important update regarding another highly anticipated SpaceX crew mission Polaris Dawn unfortunately we'll need to wait a bit longer to witness the first ever private space walk SpaceX is now targeting mid to late August for the launch of play's Dawn a mission funded by billionaire entrepreneur Jared isikman this was announced during the KW 9 press conference on the 26th per9 is scheduled to launch no earlier than August 18th with plis Dawn set to follow sometime after um there's a lot going on on ISS right now um we uh opted to fly uh the crew nine Mission as our next mission and um and are ready to fly polaron late summer as soon as we we fulfill those obligations later in the C happens later in the press conference Walker clarified that late summer refers to next month right now we're we're still planning to launch polaron in August Polaris Dawn in August this isn't the first delay for Polaris Dawn originally scheduled for late 2022 the mission has been pushed back multiple times however these delays have allowed the Polaris daon team to better prepare for this important Mission the recent setbacks are not related to Mission preparation but are largely due to the recent Falcon 9 failure which has caused delays for players Dawn and other missions as for players Dawn the mission has made remarkable strides particularly with the testing of the Eva suits which are crucial for the upcoming spacewalk the team has been diligently preparing and refining every detail to ensure a successful Mission although there have been delays primarily due to the recent Falconi failure these setbacks have not impeded the overall progress of players Dawn the extra time allows for thorough preparation enhancing the missions Readiness and safety we're on the brink of witnessing a historic achievement with the first ever private Space Walk let's continue to support the Polaris Dawn team and send them our best wishes as they gear up for this groundbreaking Mission the waight will be worth it and I'm confident that Po's Dawn will deliver an experience that exceeds our expectations and showcases the best of private space exploration well folks that's about it for today's episode thank you so much for tuning in and as always this has been Kevin from great SpaceX until next time keep looking up