Flight 12 Imminent!! | Starbase Flyover Report #130

追加: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]Ship 39 makes a brief return to the flame trench for some lastminute pre-flight testing at Massy's. Transport stands are being prepared for flight 12 vehicle roll out at Sanchez. Since returning from Massie, ship 39 has had its payload base stacked to 22 Starlink simulator satellites at the build site.

[00:00:17]And we caught some pretty cool water luge testing on our Starbase camera at the launch site.

[00:00:23]Hey there, I'm Matt and welcome to episode 130 of RGV Aerial Photography's Starbase flyover report. Thankfully, this week we didn't have any issues with weather, so we were able to get up in the air on Friday, May 15th, and get another incredible set of images to get you guys caught up to speed with everything going on at Starbase, Texas.

[00:00:41]So, strap in and enjoy the ride while we start off the tour over at Massy's.

[00:00:46]Beginning at the Flame Trench, we can see ship 39 undergoing some lastminute pre-flight testing after receiving a new engine. With this view, we can actually get a great look at one of the items being triled on flight 12, the painted tiles. These will be used by two of the dummy satellites that have onboard cameras, which will help aid in tracking and camera work during the flight. A new camera has also been installed directly on the static fire stand with a reciprocal one positioned right on the other side. And just to be safe, SpaceX has painted new fall protection requirement placards right onto the concrete adjacent to the flame trench.

[00:01:22]Now, back on May 15th, ship 39's locks tank was completely filled, while its methane tank was only partially filled.

[00:01:30]It's still unclear whether it completed a spin prime or an igniter test, but a huge thanks to Avid Space's Rocket Ranch Cam and VIX for capturing this clip. The ship has since rolled back to Mega Bay 1 for payload integration and final pre-flight work, but we'll cover more on that when we get to the build site.

[00:01:47]Looking down into the flame trench, we can spot evidence of some active repair work happening on the joint between the grade beam and the walls. The debris sitting under the scaffolding combined with the spoils tossed in this dumpster suggest crews are actively removing loose material before patching the gap with some kind of sealant product.

[00:02:06]Moving over to the tank farm, those new tanks that were sitting beside the methane farm have now been officially relocated onto the new pedestals we spotted last week. And over at the structural test area, things have been fairly quiet, but throughout the week, B18.3 did knock out two more cryogenic proof tests. The first took place on May 15th, marking its 15th test overall and its fifth test in this specific configuration. The next one followed a few days later on May 18th.

[00:02:34]Finally, over the bird cage, crews have started plumbing up the various commodities directly to the landing tank. You can clearly see more control valves and various plumbing lines installed on top of the tank in this awesome ground photo. Well, that's it for Massiey's. Now, let's move on over to Sanchez.

[00:02:52]Starting with the OOLM construction progress, one of the top deck manifolds has officially arrived. This manifold will supply water to the top part of the OM, keeping it cold and preventing damage from the exhaust of the 33 V3 Raptor engines.

[00:03:08]Moving over to the flame bucket staging area, four more sections have just rolled in. As we saw earlier, these specific pieces are destined to form the angled walls of the flame bucket.

[00:03:19]Over at the transport stand area, the final two slides have been installed on the booster stand, and a brand new structure is currently being built right next to it. Current speculation suggests this could be some sort of platform nearby. A fourth methane tank skid has arrived. With the other three currently staged at the launch site, this strongly suggests that the four new tanks over at the port connector road site are in fact meant for methane storage. We can also spot some water deluge pipe flanges staged here with possibly even more sitting on the truck.

[00:03:50]Checking in on the gigabay cladding area. No visible work can be spotted this week. It looks like this crew might have had this week off while waiting for other tasks to progress.

[00:03:59]Over the scrapyard, the aft section of the version two booster 17 has had all of its outer tank wall sections removed.

[00:04:06]Once the aft dome comes off, only the central manifold will remain.

[00:04:11]Interestingly, this is going to leave three different versions of booster a section manifold sitting in various locations around Starbase for display.

[00:04:18]The other two are from the recently scrapped version 3 booster 18 which is sitting in the craneard and the 29 engine version 1 booster 4 which is now parked near the old Starlink building.

[00:04:30]Moving over to the rocket garden, we've got a great view of that horseshoe shaped structure. It features a guide on either side to help with the attachment process and two clamps have now been installed onto two of the slides. The forward cradle also features guides of its own.

[00:04:45]It looks like some kind of liner is being added to the contact surface currently being temporarily held in place with some clamping devices.

[00:04:54]Check out this awesome render from Chrome Kiwi over on X showing exactly how these parts are speculated to work together to transport a booster from Starbase all the way to Florida.

[00:05:03]Definitely make sure to give him a follow. He comes out with some of the coolest renders that we've ever seen.

[00:05:10]This breakover process should occur inside the mega bay with the help of one of the bridge cranes. From there, we expect the booster to be transported horizontally without its engines or grid fins straight down to the port and onto the barge. It'll remain horizontal once it arrives in Florida and makes its way to the new gigabay before finally being lifted vertically onto a workstand for final fit outs.

[00:05:32]And finally, we have a fantastic view of ship 20 and booster 12 with its Raptor V2 engines. Do you guys think either of these will end up on display at Starship Park? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below. Before we head over to the build site, I want to give a massive shout out to all of our YouTube and Patreon members. As a quick reminder, all of our patrons get exclusive access to our showand tell sessions on the exact same day of each flight. It's a great chance to jump into the discussions and ask your own questions over on our Discord server.

[00:06:04]For our YouTube members, you get to dive into our live and always entertaining chat section. It's the perfect place to learn and discuss the weekly progress with the community. Plus, you get to ride along with the live flyover stream as it's happening, getting realtime access to our pictures the second they're taken. If you want to be the very first to see these amazing shots, that's the place to be. Also, don't forget about our brand new Tuesday show, Starbase Expanded, airing live on YouTube at 600 p.m. Central, where we dive deep into all the updates since our weekend stream, and we cover the external support facilities we don't usually get into on the main show, like Rio West, the Ad Astro School, and a whole lot more. We also break down the nitty-gritty details on things like land swaps and environmental reports. So, if you want to stay on top of literally everything happening in and around Starbase, be sure to tune in.

[00:06:58]Starting off at the Gigab Bay, steady progress is being made on the sixth level of construction. The center wall is now completely finished, and the western cranes have started placing steel over on the parking garage side.

[00:07:10]Work on the more intricate staractory side is also moving along with the partition walls that support the stacking cell bridge cranes now rising halfway up this level. Taking a closer look along this side, you can spot four columns that recently had top arms added over in Sanchez.

[00:07:26]These support beams are expected to be used to raise the main bridge cranes into their final position just below.

[00:07:32]The column in the middle of the work cell is currently missing the arm that supports the bridge crane rail beam seen on the other columns. However, that piece will be bolted into place once the cranes are actually raised and translated over to the completed ones.

[00:07:45]Looking at it from directly above, we can clearly see the attachment point for another level of tower crane tie-ins.

[00:07:52]This is getting prepped for when the cranes climb one last time to install the final level and the roof trusses.

[00:07:58]Down on the seventh floor, the concrete floors are nearly finished. The center section's complete. The parking garage side is half poured, and the remaining half is already prepped with rebar.

[00:08:09]Cladding around the fifth level is officially complete, finishing up with the short strip right above the stacking cell openings. And if you look along the end of the factory, you can see that parts of the parapit wall have now been removed. Between the gigabay and the star factory, we get a great view of the two foundations being installed for the connecting structure, just like we saw closer to the highway previously.

[00:08:30]Down at the doorway into the ringard, crews have started installing empty cladding frames that will link the exterior cladding directly to the door's rail system.

[00:08:39]Moving over to Mega Bay 1, booster 20 is sitting on the turntable in the front left of the bay. And panning just a bit, we can also see booster 19 on the back right stand, prepping for its roll out, but we'll have more on that later.

[00:08:51]Booster 21, meanwhile, remains unchanged on the front right turntable since our last report. Over in Mega Bay 2, the empty stand in the front left indicates that ship 40 is currently being processed in the back left station. On May 16th, ship 39 actually returned from Massy's following undisclosed trip for testing. Once it was transferred from the static fire stand to one of the new ship transport stands, it was moved right into the ringard. At the same time, the Starlink speed loader was moved into the bay and rigged to the bridge crane for payload integration.

[00:09:23]As flight 12 rapidly approaches, the backside of both bays is giving us an extra clue about flight readiness. Both bays are displaying orange explosive placards, indicating that both vehicles had their FTS installed at the time of our flyover.

[00:09:37]If you look back to our May 10th flight, Mega Bay 2 was actually already displaying the placard for ship 39's FTS.

[00:09:45]Moving over to the village, Starship Park has new formwork assembled to pour another wall right up the middle of the previous walls on either end of the display structure. To the east, new parking lot is showing great progress, too, with some of the curbing already poured and additional formwork outlining the spaces.

[00:10:02]It's been quite some time since any new homes have been built in the village.

[00:10:05]But in recent weeks, two new duplexes was started to rise right across the street from the sushi restaurant.

[00:10:11]Finally, the cleared lot at the far end of the village is seeing even further preparation with several utility trenches either completed or actively in the works. With all that covered, now let's move over to the launch site.

[00:10:24]Starting over at pad 2, the launch mount itself appears largely inactive.

[00:10:29]However, in the days following our flyover, the water deluge systems were tested numerous times. Here's a quick clip from one of those tests captured by our bunker cam on the night of May 16th.

[00:10:39]Looking up at the tower, we can spot the newly relocated vent, which is now pointing out to the west directly off the back leg. And up on the roof, crews have actually cut a brand new access hatch to reach the leg opposite the main access point.

[00:10:53]Also at the top of the tower 2, cameras appear to have been installed inside two of the openings in the tower cladding.

[00:10:59]Moving over to the vehicles, booster 19 was transported out to the launch site on the evening of May 18th. The very next morning, it was lifted onto the launch mount in preparation for ship 39, which rolled out on the morning of the 19th and was stacked shortly after.

[00:11:14]SpaceX once again dropped some amazing photos from their incredibly talented media team down at Starbase. As of the writing of this episode, flight 12 is officially scheduled for no earlier than May 21st at 5:30 p.m. local time. Down at the D1 entrance, the lift station plumbing is now fully complete for both pumps. Nearby, the concrete foundation has just been poured for that unknown structure we've been tracking. And over at the pump farm, the locks bleed vent that previously routed over the blast wall has been removed entirely, making way for the new system along the tanks.

[00:11:46]In fact, you could see the first of the six vent outlets on the new manifold capped off right here. In the cleared space of the tank farm, where the small methane tanks used to sit, the pile drilling rig has been busy at work.

[00:11:58]Right in line with nitrogen tank pedestals, you can see the soil is disturbed with a few piles visible next to the excavator.

[00:12:06]Closer to the methane tanks, dark circles in a similar pattern suggest that these piles actually extend across the entire width of the frame. Moving over to the pad one trench, excavation of the commodity area right below the GSC bunker is now complete, meaning the forming of the bunker foundation should kick off soon. Between the two rows of sheet piles along the center line of the launch mount, a bundle of conduits has been completely encased in concrete.

[00:12:30]Looking to the top of tower 1, work appears to officially begun to prepare for the addition of the roof. Down below, construction of the bunker frame is progressing nicely. All six of the main frames and both wings are now connected with the main floor beams.

[00:12:45]Just off to the side, the massive Buckner LR1000 crane is getting into position to lay down for the upcoming launch. Its counterweight tray is actively being loaded with weights right before it lowers its boom.

[00:12:57]Tucked into the corner of the launch complex, a significant concrete slab is being prepped, utilizing a heavy rebar grid instead of standard welded wire mesh.

[00:13:06]Finally, wrapping up at the ASU site, the pipe spanning across the three skids have now been fully connected, and the two train water chillers have officially been unwrapped. The condenser building roof has been fully covered with rebar currently being placed for a concrete slab that will complete the roof entirely.

[00:13:24]And that's it for episode 130 of Starbase Flyover Report. Thank you for choosing RGV Aerial Photography. We really hope you enjoy the flyover this week. If you like what you saw today, be sure to hit that like button down below, subscribe, and share it with all your friends so that you guys can keep up to date on all the content and live streams, cameras, and all the other stuff that we have every single week.

[00:13:46]I'm Matt and we'll see you next week, probably at 11,000 ft.