Starship Progress at the Cape with Hoping to Launch this year

Date:
Thu, 23 Apr 2026 17:39:48 +0000

Description:
As the first flight of Block 3 approaches, SpaceX continues to make progress on the The post Starship Progress at the Cape with Hoping to Launch this year appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

FULL STORY ======================================================================

As the first flight of Block 3 approaches, SpaceX continues to make progress on the Gigabay at Roberts Road and the launch pads at LC-39A and the first
pad at SLC-37. SpaceX hopes to launch from LC-39A sometime this year.



Roberts Road

Over the past several months, SpaceX and its contractors have been making great progress on Gigabay at Roberts Road. The primary steel truss has
reached its maximum height, and crews are currently working on the final level. This final level will include some sort of penthouse like Mega Bays 1 and 2; it is unknown what SpaceX will place in this area.

It has potential as a great location for an upgraded launch control center
at Cape Canaveral, as the east side of the bay would offer unrestricted views of every launch pad.

At about the 315-foot (96-meter) level are four sets of tabs running along both transfer isles. These are for bridge crane rails, which will support at least one 400-ton bridge crane per side, possibly two.

These bridge cranes should be able to grab a ship or booster from any of the 12 work cells on its side and place the vehicle in any of the same 12 cells
or onto a transport stand in the transfer aisle itself.

Currently, the Mega Bays in Starbase use a pair of 180-ton bridge cranes; going up to 400 tons means SpaceX no longer needs to use two cranes to lift a single booster like in Mega Bay 1.

These arent the only bridge cranes to be located inside the Gigabay; each stacking cell, which is located on the west side of Gigabay, is set to have its own bridge crane for stacking ships and boosters.

Along with greatly improving bridge crane availability, the doors are a big improvement as well: the two large doors are around 295 feet (90 meters)
tall, and each is wide enough for a Block 3 booster and its larger grid fins to pass through.

Crews are also making good progress on the siding for Gigabay, already up to the sixth level of siding panels and making steady progress every day. Even with the bay reaching max height and the siding going up, there is still much more work to complete before this bay can support a ship or booster. Internal plumbing, electrical, lighting, HVAC systems, work stands, work platforms, bridge cranes, and much more.

Just to the south of Gigabay, SpaceX has moved all nine of the SLC-37 tower segments to SLC-37 for storage and final preps. In their place, crews look to be digging footing pads for another possible building at Roberts Road.

Next door is the set of chopsticks and their carriage for the first tower at SLC-37; these appear to be just steel, with no electrical components or anything else installed. Its not much of a concern since SLC-37 is still a long way from being finished.

As for the rest of Roberts Road, there are three parts of a new water-cooled launch deck, but so far, there are no other parts for another launch mount.

LC-39A

With the stoppage of Falcon 9 flights from LC-39A, crews have made significant progress on the Starship pad. Over the last several months, both Booster Quick Disconnects and the entire Ship Quick Disconnect arm have been installed on the Starship pad. Crews have also made significant progress on the launch mount itself and the service structure to the side. LC-39A Taken With Satellite (Credit: Harry Stranger / 2026 Planet Labs PBC)

Recently, venting has been observed from the Starship tank farm, indicating that SpaceX is testing the Liquid Oxygen (LOX), Liquid Nitrogen (LN2), and Liquid Methane (LCH4) systems. This testing uses the currently installed systems because not all pumps, tanks, and vaporizers have been delivered yet, let alone installed.

Based on progress seen from NSF flyover images and from satellite images, LC-39As Starship pad is still at least six months behind Pad 2, not including the missing propellant tanks. However, SpaceX can start flying from the pad, as long as teams have enough for about one and a half launches.



SLC-37

The second launch complex for Starship at Cape Canaveral is SLC-37, and
since receiving approval to begin construction, SpaceX and its contractors have made progress across the entire complex. Currently, construction of a single tower and trench foundation has begun, and most Continuous Flight
Auger (CFA) piles have been completed. The tower base has started to rise, which will take at least one and a half months. This started a few weeks ago.

The next steps for the first pad at SLC-37 will be to start stacking the first of two launch towers. To that end, all nine modules for the tower are parked at the opposite end of the launch complex, awaiting completion of the base.

The start of stacking operations, using the Buckner LR13000, which is the largest crawler crane in the world, could start within a few weeks. SLC-37 Taken With Satellite (Credit: Harry Stranger / 2026 Planet Labs PBC)

Below the first launch pad location are four rows of CFA piles, split into two pairs; these are set to be the locations for the large tank farm that
will supply both launch pads. Currently, it is unknown where the second
launch pad will go, but it appears that SpaceX is focusing on getting at
least one pad as far along as possible to start with.

Further to the south of the pad, next to the entrance road, is a new area being cleared for at least one Air Separation Unit (ASU) at SLC-37.

The ASU will help provide LOX and LN2 to the tank farm by taking in atmospheric air, then condensing and separating it.

Starship Barge Transporters

Once SpaceX can finish at least LC-39As Starship launch pad, crews are going to need a booster and ship to be able to not only commission the launch pad, but also to start launching. To move these large vehicles to Cape Canaveral, SpaceX will use two barges.

The first one is a Marmac 31 going by the name Youll Thank Me Later. This barge is 260 feet by 72 feet by 16 feet. It can easily haul a single ship or booster, or possibly two if the flaps or grid fins are removed.

Recently, this barge has been seen delivering propellant and water tanks to Cape Canaveral for SpaceX to help construct the launch pads needed for Starship. JRTI is returning to Port Canveral, with a Falcon 9 booster, for
the final time. Will next be used to transport Starship hardware from Starbase. @JerryPikePhoto views. https://t.co/tANS0dWyIH https://t.co/skFSfukODq pic.twitter.com/iZsSmxMrCy

NSF NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) April 23, 2026



The second barge is SpaceXs Just Read the Instructions drone ship, which has been helping with Falcon 9 recovery since 2016 and has had 156 Falcon 9 first stages land on its deck. This announcement came just after B1095 landed on
its deck after the GPS-III SV10 mission.

This barge, or droneship, is a Marmac 303, measuring 300 feet by 100 feet by 19 feet 9 inches, and could hold a ship and a booster with grid fins and flaps, with room to spare.

The reason that SpaceX would need two barges is that the Starfactory at Roberts Road hasnt been built yet, which means Starbase will be supplying ships and boosters for at least the next couple of years.

Featured Image: Roberts Road with the VAB in the Background (Credit: Max Evans for NSF)







The post Starship Progress at the Cape with Hoping to Launch this year appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



======================================================================
Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/04/starship-progress-cape-launch-this-yea r/


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 (Linux/64)
* Origin: tqwNet Science News (1337:1/100)