Ship 40 Returns Home as Ship 42 gets more Cryo Proof Testing

Date:
Fri, 09 Oct 2026 14:36:44 +0000

Description:
Ship 42 for Flight 15 has headed back out to Masseys for more cryo-proof testing The post Ship 40 Returns Home as Ship 42 gets more Cryo Proof Testing appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

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

Ship 42 for Flight 15 has headed back out to Masseys for more cryo-proof testing as SpaceX speeds up overall vehicle production. And after 75 days at sea, Ship 40 from Flight 13 has returned home to Texas and is slated to
return to the production site.





Flight 15

Starship Flight 15, or what could be Starlink Group 31-2, is currently set
to use Ship 42 and Booster 22. Recently, SpaceX removed all six engines from Ship 42 and has since rolled it back out to Masseys for a third time on the ship cryo-proof stand. It is unclear exactly why SpaceX is doing this, but
one possibility stands out.

That one possibility is an internal change, possibly to the engine plumbing and other internal components, to address issues the engineers may have seen during Flights 12 and 14 that are causing the Raptor Vacuum engine outs. Whatever the changes are, they require thrust ram testing rather than just a cryo-proof test before a static fire. Once this testing is complete, Ship 42 will roll back to Mega Bay 2 and, hopefully, install its engines for static fire.

Ship 42 could be ready for flight in early November, which, based on a new slide from Cadena, is stated as No Earlier Than (NET) Nov. 8. Assuming this extra testing doesnt set SpaceX back much, that date should be achievable
from a vehicle-readiness standpoint. Booster 22 is still in Mega Bay 1 but could be ready for a static fire as early as late next week.

From a regulatory standpoint, it will be interesting to see if Flight 15 can make that date. Currently, Starships launch license is set for the 10-hour mission that Ship 41 was set to fly but was brought back early, and the license states that the reentry portion is only for Flight 14. The wording
for Flight 15 is easy enough to change; however, if SpaceX wants to change
the mission, like trying for a ship catch, it could take a bit to get regulatory approval to change the license.

SpaceX could still try to catch both the ship and the booster on Flight 15, but neither has been confirmed. Starship (unofficial) schedule latest:

Flight 15 (Starbase Pad 2) NET November 8. Flight 16 (Potentially KSC 39A) NET December 10. https://t.co/QF3if7fueq

NSF NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) October 8, 2026



Flight 16

Following Flight 15 comes Flight 16, or, as the Cadena slide calls it, Starlink Group 30-1. This is slated to be the first Starship flight from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). This flight will likely use Ship 43 and Booster 23, both of which are being completed and readied for cryo-proof testing.

Ship 43 is currently inside Mega Bay 2, finishing its internals, and is
still missing its starboard-side aft flap. This ship was fully stacked on Sept. 15, and based on that timeline, it could be ready for flight in mid-January. To stay on schedule compared to past Block 3 ships, Ship 43 will need to go for cryo sometime in the next two weeks.

Its possible partner, Booster 23, was fully stacked on Sept. 25 and is currently being finished inside Mega Bay 1. If this booster follows the timelines of the past few Block 3 boosters, it should be ready for cryo-proof testing sometime in the next two weeks as well.

For these vehicles, those timelines dont include the week-long trip across the Gulf to KSC, the checkouts in the Roberts Road Gigabay, or the full-stack Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) required before a flight. But as always, SpaceX can go faster, as they have done many times before.

For a ship, SpaceX would have to test the vehicle in its entirety at
Starbase, TX, before shipping it over, since KSC has no ship-testing facilities. For the booster, SpaceX can cryo-proof it at Masseys and install engines in Mega Bay 1.

Once at the Roberts Road Gigabay, SpaceX will double-check everything, install the grid fins, then static-fire at LC-39A. This will, of course, test the booster, but more importantly, it will test the pads deluge and booster side tank farm. Then, to test the ship side as well, SpaceX will perform a
WDR during the countdown test at LC-39A before finally launching a Starship stack from KSC.

Flights 17 and up

After flights 15 and 16, the ship-and-booster pairings will likely get
harder to predict, assuming Booster 22 and possibly Booster 23 get caught. Vehicles for later flights are in different stages of production, and SpaceX appears to have a backlog of ships waiting to be built.

Ship 44 is currently on the Mega Bay 2 turntable and is missing only its transfer tubes and drive/engine section. The transfer tubes are sitting in
the Starfactory, awaiting Ship 44 to be ready. Ship 44 could be used for Flight 17, which, based on readiness timelines, could be February of 2027.

Ship 45s nose cone is currently stacked on its payload bay at the
Starfactory and is likely waiting for Ship 44 to finish stacking. Also, what is presumed to be the Ship 46 nose cone is waiting for Ship 45 to leave the Starfactory turntable, so it can get its payload bay, and what is presumed to be Ship 47s nose cone is currently getting tiles. Mega Bay 2s single
turntable appears to be slowing SpaceXs ship production.

Booster 24 is currently in Mega Bay 1 and is getting its methane transfer tube installed before its Liquid Oxygen tank is fully completed. Based on flight-readiness timelines from Booster 20 and 21, Booster 24 could be ready in early February; however, it is currently unknown whether it will stay at Starbase or go to KSC if Booster 23 isnt caught.

So far, Booster 25 is still a ways from starting stacking, but if SpaceX starts catching and reusing boosters, it shouldnt be too much of an issue. To increase launch and construction cadence, Gigabay cant be finished soon enough.

Ship 40 Ship 40 returns to Starbase pic.twitter.com/ebOU9MAiZQ

Jerry Pike (@JerryPikePhoto) October 7, 2026





Ship 40, which flew on Flight 13, has returned to Texas after a 75-day sea journey. The ship arrived at the Port of Brownsville on the morning of Oct. 7 and is currently slated to be rolled back to the production site tonight,
with a closure set from 10:55 pm to 5:00 am CDT.

The ship will be rolled horizontally on the cradle that was on Fortes deck.

SpaceX designed the cradle so that it could be picked up with the K25 self-propelled modular trailers and then rolled off the ship. This will give SpaceX some practice in transporting a ship horizontally.

Once at the production site, SpaceX will likely do extensive inspections of the inside of Ship 40, and possibly practice ship breakover operations. It will be interesting to watch what SpaceX does with Ship 40 over the coming weeks.

Featured Image: Ship 40 on Forte, with Starbase in the background (Credit: Jerry Pike for NSF)



The post Ship 40 Returns Home as Ship 42 gets more Cryo Proof Testing
appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



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Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/10/ship-40-returns-ship-42-more-testing/


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