A pair of workers focus on finishing Ship 24’s lone ‘raceway’ cover. The fact that Ship 24 did not move indicates that the failure was fairly minor and contained, only impacting some easily-replaceable plumbing. Had Ship 24’s incident been severe, it would have likely left the pad as well. Super Heavy Booster 7, which suffered a dramatic plumbing failure during an early proof test, was moved back to one of Starbase’s covered assembly bays for repairs. It would also explain why SpaceX decided to leave Starship in place and conduct repairs at the pad. Workers installed a new section of pipe with expansion loops in Starship 24 today to replace the section destroyed during Friday's testing and they also removed this straight section:Ģ:02 pm 5/30/22 /U3UpgZiIUH- Starship Gazer May 30, 2022 That would explain the first muffled burst, the subsequent venting sound that slowly faded to nothing, and the loss of heat shield tiles. Given the location of that piping inside Ship 24’s nose section, there’s a nonzero chance that the failure occurred when SpaceX attempted to pressurize the Starship’s new header tanks, which would have started by pressurizing the propellant and gas lines leading to them. Altogether, it appears that some small section of Ship 24’s internal piping failed catastrophically after it was pressurized during the vehicle’s first pneumatic proof test, knocking tiles loose and possibly damaging other adjacent plumbing. Three days later, workers were spotted guiding apparent replacement pipes into Ship 24. Perhaps related to the bang noise and tiles falling off during cryo testing this morning? Removal can be viewed on my Live stream.Ħ:12 pm 5/27/22 /LdQHpXIlKj- Starship Gazer SpaceX employees were still hard at work repairing Ship 24 two days later. Workers just removed a very bent section of pipe from Starship 24. SpaceX depressurized Ship 24 soon after and within a few hours, workers could be seen extracting a pipe from the ship that appeared to have been bent almost in half. At the same time as the loud noise was heard, a good dozen or so of S24’s thousands of heat shield tiles were knocked off the section of the hull between the Starship’s main tanks and nose cone.
Ship 24 is the first Starship with an upgraded version of those tanks after SpaceX decided to remove the methane header tank from the main methane tank and relocate it directly under the oxygen header tank, which takes up the tip of Starship’s nose.Īfter an hour or two of testing, a muffled bursting noise different from previous vents was heard, followed by a quieter ‘whoosh’ more akin to a long vent. No activity was visible at the ship’s nose, where vents and plumbing attach to a pair of small landing (header) propellant tanks. Starship 24 rolls out to the pad at Starbase /PGh6FY6x8w- SpaceX May 27, 2022įor a while, Ship 24’s first ambient proof test went about as expected, with lots of small vents from its main liquid oxygen (LOx) and methane (LCH4) tanks.