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On February 3rd, Elon Musk announced the long-awaited starship update for which he assured there would be a full stack of booster 4 and ship 20. This comes six months after a first fit check of the two prototypes on the orbital launch mount on August 6th, 2021, six month of major upgrades both to the vehicles and the launch site ("Stage 0"). While they used the Liebherr LR11350 crane back then, SpaceX was now expected to test the newly built infrastructure of the orbital launch site for stacking.
The "chopsticks", intended not only for stacking, but also for catching boosters and possibly ships, have been tested in the past month using water bags to simulate the mass of Starship. For stacking booster 4 onto the orbital launch mount however, SpaceX used its own LR11000 crane. This operation was conducted smoothly on February 6th.
The stacking of ship 20, for which the chopsticks had to be used as no crane was tall enough, was delayed a few days due to bad weather conditions. Preparations finally started on February 8th. Bumpers on the QD arm were removed, lifting pins were installed on the chopsticks, S20 got disconnected from the pressurisation system of the transport stand and moved into the arms of the chopsticks. In the following morning, the pad was cleared for some proof testing of ship 20. After that, the whole launch site was closed ahead of stacking operations. After midnight, ship 20 was finally stacked onto booster 4, marking the second time SpaceX has assembled the whole rocket and the first time making use of the launch site infrastructure.
Stacking timeline of Ship 20 onto Booster 4
21:22 Ship was slightly lifted in order to increase the tension on the cables
22:06 Ship was lifted a few feet to clear the transport stand
22:27 The final lift started
22:44 Ship 20 reached the top of the OLIT
23:02 Ship began to swing towards booster 4
23:20 Ship 20 arrived over booster 4
23:36 Stabilization claws attached to booster, during which the booster moved slightly
23:40 Ship began to be lowered very slowly
00:44 (approximately) Full stack of booster 4 and ship 20 completed
On Thursday, February 10th, Elon Musk gave an update on the Starship program in front of the fully stacked Starship. Key updates include information on the progress of Raptor 2 development and testing as well as orbital refilling, which will be done in a side-to-side configuration. Musk is still confident to receive approval from the FAA for orbital launch in March, for which he says they would be ready. Hope is they reach orbit this year. Boca Chica Starbase is likely to become SpaceX's "advanced R&D hub", while most operational flights will probably launch from Cape Canaveral.
Musk however did not mention the fate of booster 4 and ship 20, both prototypes being subject to much speculation on whether they will be used for a first orbital launch. Furthermore, no update on future customers was given, although Musk mentioned "future announcements that I think people will be pretty fired up about".
Asked on the topic of sea-launch platforms on the oil rigs, Musk stated that SpaceX plans to complete one of them by the end of this year.
You can watch the full update below.
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