flight 8 hasn't launched yet here's why and what we can expect three Luna Landers are either heading to the moon or have already landed blue origin launches the next new Shepherd and the one after it is planning to shoot across the sky like no one before my name is Felix welcome to what about it let's Dive Right In Starship updates SpaceX initially rolled out booster 15 on February 24th but with a slightly different look the 230 foot tall Behemoth was without its hot staging ring a key component for completing the mission and sending ship 34 onto the flight later goals while we don't know exactly why this wasn't fully installed during booster 15's time in mega Bay 2 we saw it go in and out several times before its roll out cold feet anyone we know that SpaceX Prides itself on being as Nimble as possible so it wasn't surprising that booster 15 rolled to pad a without its Crown our photographer Jordan captured an interesting development on top of bua 15 for days the community was curious why the hot staging ring had been moved in and out of the mega Bay several times ultimately attached at the launch site and then removed again what Jordan found seems to indicate that SpaceX installed two struts on top of the booster seemingly to keep its original shape Integrity did booster 15 somehow get Warped and this was how SpaceX chose to address it as always they figured it out and the ring was eventually installed again and not taken off so it worked do you feel like doing something crazy check out Redlin hel.com Felix for a once in a-lifetime experience and $25 off flying in a helicopter above Starbase the redline helicopter team is waiting for you they'll show you the same views our photographers get on their staras flights after the first hot staging ring installation pad A's Chopsticks did a few catch attempt tests before moving off to the site and positioning themselves for an eventual ship 34 lift the FAA officially cleared Starship ahead of flight 8 on February 26 the agency completed its safety review and confirmed that Starship could return to flight operations even as the flight 7 map investigation remained open more importantly the FAA issued a license modification for flight 8 confirming that SpaceX met all necessary safety and environmental requirements for the launch the mission profile included a full stack launch from Bach a booster catch attempt with mechazilla and a controlled splash down of ship 34 in the Indian Ocean West of Australia with the days going by there was still no sign of ship 34 leaving Mega Bay 2 which had been its home since its return from Massie after the static fire on February 11th we expected to see the ship move out during one of the Post-it Road delays on either the nights of the 28th or March 1st but there was no sign of it soon we realized that SpaceX would go for a time plan that was even more ambitious than ever before rolling out during the early morning hours of March 2nd would indeed have been a bold move for sure still the ship was not seen rolling down Highway 4 but at least the ship was clearly visible now the dummy satellites were loaded into its payload Bay this was a good sign a few minutes after 5: in the morning the payload door finally closed and at about half past 6 the spmt came in to take up their positions below the mighty ship 34 4 but it still was another hour before the ship eventually came out of its hiding and left Mega Bay 2 still the weight was not quite over just yet the sun came out to welcome the next launch candidate and it was almost 10 when the ship entered Highway 4 riding on its spmt 1 hour later ship 34 arrived at pad a and took position next to the olm where booster 15 complete with its hot staging ring waited for its launch companion everything looked like we were still on track for a launch on Monday one more sign that the launch was indeed very close was the complete lack of many big cranes that usually work near Pat b day and night by now they had all been neatly tucked away to be safe of the incredible force that soon would be Unleashed on the launch site by 230 in the afternoon with just 27 hours until the targeted launch time the spms had moved again and eased the ship in between the Chopsticks SpaceX had us waiting for the stacking well into the evening in the end it was past 8 local time before before mechazilla started the final lifting procedure what a sight to behold the second block two Starship joined with one of the final block one boosters to be built ready to face the challenges originally set for their predecessors would ship 34 Fair better than the unfortunate sibling did on flight 7 we had to wait one more night to find out endless spam calls and emails have become a constant nuisance driven by ruthless data Brokers selling our personal data to strangers one protect your privacy meet today's sponsor incog you're not alone in this almost half of all Americans would love to see their online data erased the biggest 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proved that SpaceX was indeed committed yes the setting could not be more beautiful nonetheless the control center opted to move the launch time a good half hour back within the launch window 1 and 1 half hours before launch the setting at the launch site was a cloudy South Texan Sky creating a gray background behind the waiting ship during the day it was mainly overcast and some gusts of wind built up around noon but in the afternoon it became clear that the wind should not be a problem we eagerly anticipated The Next Step would we see the start of the tanking procedure soon at halfast 4 boil off Vapor was streaming out of the mm and also the tower itself pre-chilling looked like it was fully accomplished and we waited for the expost SpaceX usually makes when the actual tanking starts and we were over the moon when SpaceX did post just that at 4:45 p.m. we streamed this with over 60,000 people watching this was the first positive go noo decision of the day and we also learned learned from this post that the launch was now set for 5:45 p.m. the first Frost lines were spotted at 5:03 p.m. just after SpaceX had announced the start of ship and booster tanking a little over 20 minutes before the targeted launch time SpaceX informed the viewers of a possible issue two words you don't want to hear nonetheless tanking continued at this point if the issue would not have been resolved before the 40c mark that would be where a hold would occur 10 minutes before launch we got the go for weather range and vehicle Frost lines soon turned into white ice rings and eventually almost all of the silver stainless steel of the full stack was wrapped into a solid white Frosty cover from above we saw the now familiar sight of a flight ready Starship full stack in a sea of white Vapor propellant loading was completed which meant we were about 3 minutes away from launch and indeed we did see a halt while the issue on the booster was resolved in just seconds another issue came up with a ship that need to be checked out at this point it is not much of a problem to hold Starship status and proceed while all checks are being performed spacex's crew worked hard to resolve the issues and get Starship off the olm in spacex's live stream we could hear information from flight control coming in it looked like the booster issue was soon resolved at 550 we saw the clock ticking again but just a second later it went back to 40 seconds no the ship had evidently shown a small alarm as well and then the booster tripped a few automatic alarms these ultimately led to a scrub at 5:52 p.m. so DET tanking was today's Final step instead of a launch 40 minutes after SpaceX had announced to stand down from the day's test we were given more information on X the X post read like this too many question marks about this flight and then we were 20 bar low on ground spin start pressure best to deack inspect both stages and try again in a day or two so we can conclude that it is very likely not a major issue and we can still expect this launch to take place this week after all this now was effectively a wet dress rehearsal and these are performed to find these last minute errors often caused by things as simple as a faulty sensor faulty sensor looking back to flight 7 SpaceX left what some like to call meat on the bone and by that we mean the entire drumstick while booster 14 and ship 33 did get off the Launchpad reached Max q and ultimately performed a successful stage separation and a second mechazilla booster catch ship 33 had an engine anomaly that ultimately ended the campaign early but not without a spectacle the primary causes of the ship's early demise have been well documented an excess of pressure built up in the ship's attic section leading to an early and remote trigger of the flight termination system prior to launch improvements were made to flight 8's participating booster and corresponding ship to avoid the same fate starship's development continues to highlight that that progress is rarely a straight path flight testing Remains the fastest and most effective way to refine hardware and achieve full reusability while flight 7 didn't complete all of its objectives it directly informed the improvements that will be tested on flight 8 if you got a second help improve the channel and double check that you've hit the Subscribe button to stay up toate with our updates it's free and it helps us bring you even better content thank you pet B has also been a hive of activity as SpaceX prepares its successor to pad a pad B's Chopsticks are noticeably smaller than pad A's and will likely be used to attempt the first ever upper stage catch more on that later late Thursday night there was activity in front of Mega Bay 1 which houses multiple super heavy boosters and booster 16 was getting set to hitch a ride on spmt over to Massie to soon perform thrust simulation testing booster 16 is the likely candidate for flight 9 but there is still a chance SpaceX could reuse booster 14 at some point before moving onto the block 2 variant of the booster prototypes after all full reusability is the point right so booster 16 has now made substantial progress on its pre-flight campaign goals at massie's test site late Saturday night the booster underwent a full cryogenic testing campaign and everything seemed to go well yes speaking of block two super heavy boosters we've seen an interesting development in the star Factory our keened Compadre Starship Gaza was able to spot a ring card C with this note attached to it it appears that SpaceX is planning for 18.1 to be the first test article for the block two variant of the super heavy booster while we have not seen the actual ring section yet clearly SpaceX is moving forward quickly with the next iteration of the super heavy booster if you appreciate the content become a wi supporter for extra content secure your access to up to seven picture galleries per week satellite aerial and ground photos and 3D animations chat with us and gain more insights on the topic you love we've also seen more stacking and progress on ship 36 with one of its AF tanks being rolled into Mega Bay 2 for stacking current predictions have ship 36 set as position for a possible flight 10 campaign and we've already seen its nose cone in the halls of star Factory interestingly after ship 34 there is no other fully stacked Starship ready for launch while there are a two capable boosters ready or at least near ready now is SpaceX falling behind on Starship production we'll have have to watch closely and see how the early block 2 ships perform so can we start thinking about flight 9 already I say yes we can flight 9 is already setting up to be a very interesting test flight for Starship and will serve as a key litmus test and progress check for where the program is standing as of now SpaceX has caught multiple boosters after re-entry but has not yet attempted a ship catch spacex's intent is clear the flight 9 FCC approval includes a catch for both the the ship and the booster ship 35 is likely the candidate for the mission and its nose cone has been spotted with catch attachments already before it certainly seems like SpaceX is getting ready to attempt to catch a ship for the first time and Pad B seems like it has been preparing for this too with all of its new tests and Rapid progress recently if flight 9 goes according to plan we could have two returned test articles to Gog at after the mission is complete it's time to give the Indian Ocean a break can SpaceX keep up the blistering pace of these test flights flights five and six were very close together after the delay and subsequent battle with the FAA after flight 4 and things are only supposed to speed up from here far be it from any of us to advise the most intelligent engineers in the world to use caution but SpaceX has proven time and again that it prioritizes the bigger picture first and foremost and that is extending Humanity's footprint off of Earth and onto Mars and other worlds we'll keep our our eyes peeled for the latest updates and our photographers in the field will as well while Starship continues to progress down its path to getting humans to Mars the moon has been seeing an increase in missions lately recently the intuitive machines 2 mission contained lots of fascinating and important passengers that will be key for future research intuitive machines Athena Lander Astro forges Odin spacecraft and NASA's lunar Trailblazer were among the passengers Athena is the third Luna Landa that is now en route to the Moon the most at any point in history recently intuitive machines adicus Lander part of the im1 mission successfully touched down on the Luna surfice and was the first successful Luna Landing from the United States in more than 50 years other primary payload members on the im2 flight include NASA's prime one experiment which includes a trident drill to extract polar ice from the Moon and a spectrometer to analyze material also are you worried in the future you might not get good cellular service on the moon no worries the payload also included a Communications system designed to set up the first 4G and LTE network on the moon I really can't believe I just said that phones on the moon are a thing finally the first ever commercial Luna Rover is on the way to the Moon as well named map and launched by Luna Outpost it will also be the first robotic American Rover to ever land near the moon's South Pole there it will conduct 14 days worth of research and will serve as an early Scout for future Artemis missions and astronauts seeking to build Luna outposts in the area Luna Outpost is currently working on other Luna vehicles that are far more high-tech than Rovers we've seen in the past launch dates for these Advanced models are still to be determined at this time but truly what a thrill it will be to see some of these prowling along the Luna surface in the future we've talked in the past about fireflies Blue Ghost Mission but this particular Luna Lander just keeps stunning us with visuals not previously seen of the Luna surface as the Rover commenced its descent orbit insertion closer to the moon's surface it was able to send back these stunning images from just 60 Mi above the lunar surface that's right around the altitude of what the Apollo Astronauts orbited at before landing there's another rather important update about blue ghost's current status the ler was set to touch down on Sunday in the marum region and it was a Thriller worth watching life many Luna Landers in the past have failed to soft land on the lunar surface mainly due to its missing atmosphere and low gravity which makes it a very delicate task to set a lightweight Lander down and make sure it stays upright and operational Firefly has pulled it off after a textbook descend including what can only be called an orchestra of Thruster firings Blue Ghost has achieved what others often couldn't power is nominal the vehicle is charging and then reports Luna gravity and vehicle is stable yes those were the important words and they were followed by something even more important hard evidence the first image transmitted by the craft to Earth was shown during the end of the live broadcast it shows a part of the lader and a stable stance on the surface of the Moon more images have been released since one shows the ler itself giving Firefly engineers and NASA Personnel a first view of the hardware and those 10 NASA experiments ments that were safely delivered to the Moon it also shows you I mean us that ball there in the sky that's us wave for Blue Ghost the other image shows the Lander as well but from a mesmerizing perspective it's its shadow as its cast Over Mari Chisum this will be its home for the next 14 days and I'm very sure that these next two weeks will be filled with exciting news from the Luna surface this marks Firefly's first moon mission under NASA's commercial Luna payload Services the Lander launched January 15th 2025 and successfully entered Luna Orbit on February 13th its instruments will study Luna regalis geophysical properties and how solar wind interacts with Earth's magnetic field the missions operations will cover a full Luna day before the moon's frigate night sets in if all goes to plan Blue Ghost one will be a major step in expanding the Luna economy and supporting emis era exploration fireflies next Lander is already in development aiming for a 2026 mission to the moon's far side which is an even bigger challenge so far the visuals it has provided have been exceptional and I'd only expect them to get better on to some more terrestrial news blue origin recently launched its 30th new shepher Mission designated ns30 it flew on February 25th sending six paying customers into space this Mission marked the program's 10th human space flight time flies when you're having fun although it was brief the mission was packed with highlights it launched from launch site 1 in West Texas around 10:00 a.m. local time and carried its crew of six passengers 66 miles into the sky surpassing their Carmen line the internationally recognized boundary of space the entire flight lasted approximately 10 minutes with a capsule and booster executing successful autonomous Landings back at the launch site next up is NS 31 which will feature an all female crew including aerospace engineer Aisha Bowie and Katie Perry now she really will shoot across the sky baby you're a firework that's it for today remember to smash that like button subscribe for more this is what fuels the algorithm and this is how you can help us for free check out our epic shirts in your favorite space nerd store a new Raptor design and our brand new starship block 2 design are both up link is in the description and in the card you should see now also check out our print store at shop. whatabout it.s space to buy a picture for your favorite wall a significant amount of every purchase goes directly to our photographers and if you want to learn more about the fascinating story of spacex's Raptor 3 engine watch this video next to continue your journey thank you very much for watching and I'll see you again in the next episode two p a not to the pad interesting Trail orbit orbit