SpaceX Finishes Key Heat Shield Upgrade For Starship Ahead Of Flight 5

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SpaceX is moving forward with preparations for Starship flight 5 after having moved out the second stage Starship spacecraft from its processing site on a mobile static fire stand. After the fourth Starship flight last year, which was notable for its forward flap catching fire during reentry, SpaceX decided to replace all of the ship's thousands of heat shield tiles to prepare for the fifth flight. By the looks of it, the ship might be heading for a static fire attempt before the fifth test flight to complete another pre flight test.

SpaceX's Starship Flight 5 Likely To Take Place In August As Ship Completes Early Preparations

SpaceX's upper stage Starship for the fifth flight has been under the works for quite some time. Even before flight four took off early last month, SpaceX had static fired the ship as part of its rapid testing pace that aims to cut the time between the tests. However, the fourth flight saw the second stage's upper fin catch fire, and immediately after the test, SpaceX started to replace all of heat shield tiles as part of an upgrade.

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Footage from local media shows that most of Flight 5's ship's heat shield tiles have been replaced. While the ship's first static fire was on a ground pad adjacent to the launch pad, SpaceX has demolished this site. Future static fires, especially for the ship, should occur on a mobile test tower positioned far from the orbital test stand on a repurposed gun ranch. Called the 'Massey's site', SpaceX has previously tested its rocket tanks there, and over the past couple of months, it has significantly upgraded the infrastructure to support static fires.

These upgrades include test tanks and a flame trench, and the Flight 5 Starship upper stage might be the first to witness a static fire at Massey's.

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