SpaceX Suddenly about to Test Starship Full WDR Again, Why? Is Flight 12 Delayed...

What's going on? Starship's tests may need to be redone, creating significant doubt about the launch date. If you feel a sense of deja vu, don't worry, it isn't a glitch in the Matrix, it's just the reality of living in the era of rapid iterative development where finished is a relative term. On the other side of the world, China continues launching older versions of its Jiuquan rockets, and prepares for the next launch of a new version determined to maintain a competing copy with SpaceX. It's like watching a high-stakes game of Follow the Leader, where the leader is moving at Mach 25 and the follower is doing everything they can to remain in the slipstream. Meanwhile, Psyche has just captured an impressive image of Mars during its flyby. It's a rare moment of cosmic beauty in a week dominated by technical jargon and launch window logistics, reminding us why we bother with all this metal and fire in the first place. Let's find out on today's episode of Great SpaceX. We start our journey today in the humid, salt-aired landscape of Boca Chica where the air smells like ocean spray and the persistent dream of multi-planetary life. Recently, we all witnessed a stacking sequence so smooth it looked like a choreographed dance, followed by a full wet dress rehearsal that made us think we were just days away from ignition. But SpaceX decided to throw us a curveball, rolling two stages back to the production site and leaving us all wondering if we had accidentally skipped a chapter in the mission handbook. The rumor mill is currently spinning faster than a Raptor engine turbine and the latest word is that we might be looking at a repeat of the entire testing cycle for Flight 12. Road closures have started appearing on the schedule and they aren't the quick trip to the grocery store kind of closures. We're talking about multi-hour blocks that scream something heavy is moving. Specifically, we saw routes closed from 6 in the evening to 10 at night on May 14th, followed by a middle of the night window from midnight to 4am on the 15th. When you see hardware moving from the production site to the Massey's testing facility at those hours, you know the engineers are either very motivated or very worried. To make things even more interesting, the ship's static fire stand was spotted moving to Mega Bay 2. Now, some people thought of this move was for S40, which just finished its cryogenic ice bucket challenge earlier this month and is next in line. But S40 is the new kid on the block, a V3 version that usually requires a lot more getting-to-know-you time before it's ready to play with fire. It only returned to the production bay about two weeks ago and in SpaceX time, that is barely long enough to get the protective plastic off the sensors. That leaves us looking squarely at S39, the seasoned vet of the Flight 12 hardware stack, which might be heading back for a do-over. Why? Which is static fire a ship that has already passed its exams with flying colors. It's the cosmic equivalent of being told you have to retake your final exam even though you already posted your grade on Instagram. There have been whispers of an unusual problem with one of S39's engines, something that didn't necessarily cause a failure but was enough to make the engineers tap their clipboards nervously. SpaceX hasn't officially confirmed a glitch and in the world of aerospace, no news is usually good news, unless it's the kind of silence that precedes a very loud pop. The most likely scenario is just a total system recheck, with a laser focus on the engine gimbal navigation and the thrust reliability over an extended duration. Remember, Flight 12 isn't just a repeat of 11, it's the debut of a different propulsion method designed to support the deployment of actual payloads. If they're going to start carrying expensive satellites, they need to be absolutely sure that Plus, this flight plan calls for a landing attempt using only one engine before splashdown, which is like trying to balance a broomstick on your finger while riding a unicycle. So if S39 is indeed heading back to Massey's on the 15th and the 16th, it suggests a level of caution that feels very different from the Ascended and Sea days of early Starship. But wait, the plot thickens with a massive beach closure scheduled for the 17th and the 18th, spanning nearly 12 hours each day. Since Massey's testing doesn't usually require clearing the beach, these closures point directly to the launch pad where the big show happens. This implies that B19 will be arriving at the pad around the same time, setting the stage for yet another full stack wet dress rehearsal. If they pull this off, we're looking at a launch as early as the 19th, provided the weather and the FAA are both feeling cooperative. Speed is the name of the game here, with the goal of hitting a fuel loading cadence of just 35 minutes, which is basically the time it takes me to decide what to order on DoorDash. This reduction in loading time is a huge flex by SpaceX, showing they have absolute confidence in their plumbing, their pumps, and their ability to handle cryogenic chaos. They're even running full deluge tests, spraying massive volumes of water at the pad like they're trying to win the world's largest squirt gun fight. The success of this first V3 flight is the linchpin for everything that comes next, including the missions that will eventually put Boots back on the moon. It's an incredibly exciting final leg of the journey, even if the final leg feels like it's been going on for three years. If you're ready for this adrenaline-fueled sprint to the launch pad, go ahead and drop a speed up in the comments to show the algorithm we care. While we wait for the fog to clear in Texas, let's turn our attention to the east, where the competition is literally building a mirror image of the future. China's land-space company, China's Landspace, is moving at a pace that would make most legacy aerospace companies faint from exhaustion. They recently launched the Jiuquan 2E from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, and it wasn't just a test flight, it was a payload delivery mission. They successfully dropped a 2,800 kg experiment into a 900 km polar orbit, which is a serious achievement for a private company. The Jiuquan 2E is what they call a Block II variant, which basically means they fixed all the things that went wrong with the previous versions. The Y3 flight of this rocket ended in a self-destruction event due to a voltage issue, which is a fancy way of saying the second stage had a bad day at the office. But the Y5 version we just saw has lengthened tanks, sub-cooled propellant, and a second stage that can restart its engines three times. If that sounds familiar, it's because it's almost exactly the playbook SpaceX used to turn the Falcon 9 into the king of the mountain. The Jiuquan 2 family is officially the first methallox rocket family to reach orbit and launch a payload, beating Starship to that specific milestone by a hair. Of course, being the first to orbit with methane is like being the first person to arrive at a party. It's cool, but everyone is really waiting for the guest of honor to show up. Landspace is already moving on to the next evolution, the Jiuquan 3, which is where the SpaceX clone narrative really starts to take off. The Jiuquan 3 is switching to stainless steel construction, which is the same shiny thermos aesthetic that makes Starship so iconic. Stainless steel is the ultimate millennial material. It's durable, it's relatively cheap, and it's way easier to work with than carbon fiber or specialized alloys. The first Jiuquan 3 test flight reached orbit last December, but the booster landing was a bit of a rapid unscheduled disassembly, proving that reusability is still the hardest level of the game. The next Jiuquan 3 is already at the launch site in Jiuquan, with a target launch date set for mid-May, which means we might have two major launches to watch at the same time. To fund this rapid expansion, Landspace is looking at an initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, aiming to raise a cool 1 billion U.S. dollars. That would give them a post-IPO valuation of around 11 billion U.S. dollars, which is a lot of money for a company that is still figuring out how to land its rockets. It's fascinating to watch this replica rocket evolve, because it proves that the SpaceX model isn't just a fluke, it's the new blueprint for the entire industry. Whether Landspace can truly compete with the raw power and scale of Starship remains to be seen, but they are certainly putting their money where their methane is. And while we're talking about long-distance travelers, let's take a moment to appreciate the incredible journey of the Psyche spacecraft. Psyche is currently on a mission to a metal-rich asteroid that might actually be the exposed core of an ancient planet, which is about as main-character energy as a mission can get. On its way to the asteroid belt, it had to swing by Mars for a gravity assist, which is basically a cosmic slingshot to pick up speed. During this flyby, the spacecraft's camera captured a breathtaking image of a crescent Mars that has been making the rounds on social media. At first glance, it looks like a solar eclipse with a thin, glowing sliver of light defining the edge of the planet against the infinite blackness of space. But NASA was quick to clarify on X, that is not an eclipse, but an even more rare sight. A crescent Mars, as seen by NASA's mission to Psyche spacecraft. What we are seeing is the night side of Mars, with the crescent being formed by sunlight reflecting off the day side and filtering through the thin Martian atmosphere. The little bumps and irregularities you see in the glowing lines aren't glitches, they're actually mountains, dust storms, and clouds on the Martian surface. On the 15th of May, Psyche will come within 2800 miles of Mars, traveling at over 12,000 miles per hour, which is faster than I move when I hear the doorbell and I'm not wearing real pants. This flyby isn't just about the photos though, it's a critical moment for calibrating the spacecraft's scientific instruments. They need to make sure everything is working perfectly before they reach the main asteroid belt in 2029 where the real science begins. The gravity assist will boost Psyche's speed and alter its trajectory just enough to ensure it hits its target right on time. It's a reminder that in space, everything is connected and a flyby of a neighbor is often the only way to reach your true destination. As we look at the week ahead, the calendar is packed with events that could fundamentally shift our understanding of what's possible. In South Texas, we're waiting for a silver giant to prove it can handle the pressure of a V3 upgrade and a 35 minute fuel load. In China, we're watching a challenger attempt to perfect the art of methane launch while chasing an $11 billion dream. And millions of miles away, a robotic explorer is using the weight of a planet to catapult itself toward a treasure chest of heavy metals. Space exploration is getting more expensive, more complicated, and more crowded every single day, and I wouldn't have it any other way. It's the only thing that makes the daily grind of terrestrial life feel like it might actually be leading somewhere bigger than a cubicle. So keep your eyes on the launch pads, your notifications on for beach closures, and you're heart open to the idea that we might actually pull this off. Thank you for spending part of your day with me discussing the highs and lows of the final frontier. As always, this has been Kevin from Great SpaceX, your guide to chaos and the glory of the stars. Stay curious, stay hopeful, and keep pushing the boundaries of what you think is possible. Until next time, keep looking up!