Starship's Much Anticipated Flight 4 Is On The Horizon! - SpaceX Weekly

This week at Starbase Booster 11 performs a static fire test, Ship 30 receives its engines and construction continues all across the launch and build sites, as well as on test infrastructure at the Massey Outpost. Also this week, we catch a Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg over on the West Coast, Starlink and rideshare missions from Cape Canaveral, and the final Delta IV launch by ULA.
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[@Liberty4Ever]

It might be assumed that SpaceX ongoing and routine operations would become mundane over time, but after 50 years of glacial aerospace technological progress, I find SpaceX efforts to provide routine access to space to be the opposite of boring or mundane. After waiting many decades for the fulfillment of my 1970's childhood dreams, I'm very excited to finally get each of these weekly updates on the rapid progress of SpaceX. Thank you LabPadre! Go SpaceX!

[@dakinmaher4522]

What he said!

[@ahole5388]

just what I was thinking!

[@roor20]

Have been watching daily since day one. I think I’m not alone saying that starship is like our stepchild lol. We’ve all watched it grow up.

[@Egidio1965]

Condivido in pieno le tue aspettative, io ho quasi 60 anni, e ho un ricordo vivido dello sbarco sulla luna perché eravamo andati a casa di un vicino per seguire la diretta. Noi purtroppo nell' Italia rurale degli anni 70 non avevamo la televisione. Ma riuscimmo a vedere lo sbarco sulla luna egualmente. La mia passione per lo spazio e nata quella sera....

[@Liberty4Ever]

@@Egidio1965 - L'esplorazione e lo sviluppo dello spazio sono stati ritardati, ma ora che SpaceX e altre aziende private stanno sviluppando la tecnologia, l'aerospaziale sta avanzando rapidamente. Ora viviamo nel futuro.

[@lanimulrepus]

Continues to be the most pre-eminent reporting & intelligence on SpaceX operations...

[@judnichols8041]

For Sure!

[@intheshell35ify]

This and Marcus House are the only ones I trust to give me the goods.

[@uuzd4s]

"And There you have it"! You make this look easy which means you've put in some Hard Work Thx, best SpaceX updates out there ! !

[@LabPadre]

Wow, thanks! Our team is the best!

[@louisbrecheen7243]

Really appreciate the updates. I appreciate the time you put into them. Thank you sir.

[@LabPadre]

Our team deserves all the credit!

[@ESowder24]

New viewer here love how you all keep it short simple but very interesting and you cover both star base and Florida happenings

[@LabPadre]

Welcome aboard!

[@heartysteer8752]

@@LabPadreLoved the 4 shot split screen of the stand legs. All six legs in half the time!

[@MrKellymcilrath]

Thank you so much Lab Padre, for such great coverage each week with your SpaceX Weekly Updates!!

[@georgegoodwin9722]

Thanks again! The best 14 minutes of my day!

[@LabPadre]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@bgdx.5049]

Thanks LAB for another great update.

[@LabPadre]

You bet

[@TroyRubert]

goosebumps everytime i hear the PA go off to evac the pad.

[@HighPeakVideo]

Very James Bond

[@OlafGodredsson]

Best news channel ever Gran trabajo amigos 👍

[@ryann6919]

Those static fires never get old. So awesome

[@vix3779]

Damn! I missed a lot this week! Must work harder! Good job you're here Lab...to keep me honest! AWESOME update, as always! Thank you so much! ❤❤

[@LabPadre]

Thank you sweets!

[@teds8747]

Awesomeness!.. keep 'em coming Lab!

[@LabPadre]

You got it!

[@FrankBenlin]

Thank you, Lab.

[@mjproebstle]

Quite the operation! Thanks for the excellent coverage.

[@LabPadre]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@oldmanstumpie1061]

Thanks again LAB and crew. I wonder if IFT 4 has the booster hovering above the water and turning on it's vertical axis. I'd imagine they're going to need to perfect that if the chopsticks are going to connect with the catch-supports on the booster.

[@KamalaChameleon]

I look forward to these videos all week.. hopefully you keep a closer eye on roberts road too.. starbase grabs all attention but RR is the future (& past w/ Falcon)

[@allenlane3345]

Great recap! Love these so much. ❤

[@mongolloyd8310]

Catching that monster seems insane.

[@LabPadre]

Indeed!

[@jimmaag4274]

OUTSTANDING UPDATE!!! Thanks.

[@LabPadre]

You bet!

[@HoppersLab]

I'm surprised that they haven't made the scaffolding in sections that could be lifted on and off of the launch table, this would save a lot of time setting them up and taking them down.

[@joansparky4439]

thx

[@charleslord2433]

Thanks for another great update!

[@LabPadre]

Our pleasure!

[@59seank]

Thanks LabPadre for another excellent report.

[@dphuntsman]

Outstanding report- as always! Also: Just from the (sea-going) fleet’s timing….seems they really are starting to run up against the case where it’s the current fleet’s cycle time that is going to be the limiting factor in terms of flight frequency unless something changes. One possibility: if they could somehow tweak F9 even further- a tall order considering how much Version 5 is improved over previous versions already- such that at least a few more launches per year that would have required drone ships could instead be done as RTLS’. Since, as you show here, a single recovery ship can now pick up fairing halves from two different launches anyway, that would help some. The other option is, another drone ship. I consider that unlikely, however, for this reason: Starting in 2026, F9 loses a majority of its ‘customers’- the Starlink Mini’s- as the full-sized (and much more desirable) Starlinks are flying on Starship. That will have the effect of ‘dumping’ a bunch of F9 capacity on the launch market- a huge amount, of history’s most reliable booster. At the same time other, competing boosters will likely be ramping up: Terran R, Firefly’s, Ariane 6, Chinese, Indian…not to mention next sized category of Vulcan and New Glenn (maybe). Point is, we’ll go from a dearth of launch capacity now, to an ‘oversupply’, starting in 2026; so putting money into another drone ship now in 2024 would not seem justified. (Unless: the ocean-coming ships’ cycle time right now is such that you might need an extra one of each, just to ensure you always have two always operating…..). - Dave Huntsman

[@ricardoabh3242]

Amazing work..continue the good job.

[@tommieaho1016]

So is it still april20? What time CET?

[@denissavoie4123]

Best channel for intelligent and professional updates. No nonsense reporting. Keep up the great work!

[@LabPadre]

Much appreciated!

[@richardknapp570]

With all the upgrades to Mega Bay 2 (new bay), will old High Bay remain once it is fully operational? Where to they process boosters landing at LZ-1 and 2?

[@LabPadre]

All boosters come back to the port.

[@richardknapp570]

@@LabPadre So they retract the legs at LZ-1/2, then take them to Port Canaveral...then back to Hangar X?

[@progitto]

Umarell 5.0 here

[@LTV_inc]

How is this not industrial espionage?

[@reinoud6377]

Common Sense Sceptic had quite a bad review of Elon's speech. Now they are always critical on Starship but he raised some good points. Still amazing what SpaceX is trying to achieve but some more common sense (no pun intended) on their Mars and Moon plans are needed.

[@Tomfoolery1972]

Was really hoping for another 4/20 launch but it's probably not going to happen 🤷‍♂️

[@LabPadre]

Not this time.

[@wloffy]

will they connect horizontal tanks before IFT-4?

[@bgdx.5049]

I believe they could connect the first batch of 3 horizontal LN2 tanks before IFT4.

[@JULIANAHASSANI]

🚀🚀🚀

[@czarnick123]

Humanity must get to Mars.

[@replica1052]

space as highways

[@replica1052]

@@thisisntgood71 to master a solar system

[@replica1052]

@@robnobert (every rocket of the planet every two yeras as in space as highways make earth and mars the same place, a two-planet-world )

[@4DCResinSmoker]

So the rich can run away from the problems they've created on Earth right? Keep in mind that the first people's to colonize another world, will be the first people to return and conquer Earth. Let those two statements sink in for a moment.

[@czarnick123]

@@thisisntgood71 Earth is 90% of the way through its life cycle. Now is the time to go because we can and we dont know how long that window will be open.

[@paulsongy8366]

It's to bad you couldn't tell us when IFTL 4 will launch

[@LabPadre]

Wish we could.

[@josebembibre7298]

Musk created an ecosystem of people living from the Boca Chica videos that needs to maintain the hype to survive. That´s all. I bet that IFT7 would never happen.

[@quietwarf1019]

What? Uh make sense please