Jason Johnson

@mcrs987 Didn’t they burn Ship longer than planned for engine out?

Can clearly see S39 generating lift during reentry to make up for the lost range from the engine-out on ascent.

@Bubbinski @bluemoondance74 @NASASpaceflight make this the new starbase live thumbnail!

Nice! Sunset silhouette of the stack and Pad 2 at Starbase.

@Alexphysics13 Ship to Masseys?

Road closures have now been posted on the city of Starbase website for the rollback of both Booster 19 and Ship 39 from the pad to the production site. This is for final checkouts and work needed to get them fully flight-ready. It's not a lot of work, but it's gotta be done.

@CSI_Starbase Do you think they might have increased the chamber pressure of the baby raptors to compensate for the issues they have during the static fire?

I hope I'm wrong but I think we are seeing roof panel 1 being liberated and taking panel 2 with it. If this is the case it would mean one of the gas generators for the water cooled launch deck exploded. Need a flyover to determine for sure.

@CSI_Starbase Box vent for the pump farm?

This is the previously unknown feature. Only posting this because I don’t think anyone other than the people who designed it will recognize what this is showing

Over the past week or so, Ryan and I had to rework the entire baby raptor simulation based on new info. This week has been wild trying to peace together the incredibly important feature we didn't realize existed until after part 2 came out. Way more revisions than I expected would be required.

@SciGuySpace The makings of an incredible book

The US Senate's new 'reauthorization' bill offers a major endorsement for NASA's revamped Artemis plans. Seriously, this is a really great legislation overall. No idea how Isaacman got this done so quickly, but he delivered. arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/…

@CJHandmer While this might be the smartest decision, what are your predictions for this upcoming announcement?

If a few people do the right thing, that so-called rocket will never roll back to the pad and instead be converted into a permanent museum/memorial/warning to mixing political expedience and engineering. Remember, we're told that Artemis II's Apollo 13 once around the Moon profile is oh-so-important. But just the cost of just these two months of launch delays is more than enough to launch a Falcon Heavy+Dragon on exactly the same mission, with considerably less fuss and considerably less risk. For the ongoing cost of SLS+Orion we could launch a crewed lunar flyby on Falcon Heavy every month! Every day that Congress and NASA prolongs the agony of this program is a day that the CCP takes comfort in our inability to pragmatically govern ourselves and moves closer to snatching territory in Taiwan and the Moon.

@AshleyKillip @NASASpaceflight Yeah definitely a cool setup!

Being a custom made system it could tap off exhaust and just use the heat. I found these just so fascinating and have been trying to explore them in more depth it is not easy getting a good view of them they rushed past the cameras and were closed up with a cover not long after they were installed so shot from the air vanished.

Take me to the carwash.

@AshleyKillip @NASASpaceflight So all of the exhaust gas, along with gaseous nitrogen is routed into the water tanks? There are no heat exchangers?

To provide the huge pressure needed for this SpaceX use a Methalox Gas Generator. Thankfully @NASASpaceflight was able to catch photos of these on trucks before installation. Gaseous oxygen and methane are piped into these along with liquid nitrogen. Ignitors provide a spark for this gaseous mix they then introduce liquid nitrogen converting it into a gas with a very high expansion ratio this is then forced into the water storage tanks this pressure will then force the water over the weir once the valve is closed the whole system sends water down to the launch pads flame deflector and top pancake being able to deliver this amount of water in a short time providing cooling and sound suppression. This render is not exactly how it would look on the inside more of an idea as to its function.

@AshleyKillip What are we thinking the staging areas are for?

SpaceX now has the green light to expand the launch site further into the wetlands. Crews have begun installing silt fences to mark the new construction perimeter. This will give them room for 2 new staging areas, a deluge farm with associated isolation and purging for Pad 1, 2 LNG (liquid natural gas) plants feeding a Liquid CH4 generation plant as well as blast walls and water storage as the ASU is for Liquid Oxygen Nitrogen and possibly argon. I have marked the new expansion on the plans in red.

@DJSnM Wen Jepp plates?

Just got into Austin and the landing was Funnn - looking out the left window it looked like a basic Downwind-Base-Final that I fly in small planes. But I guess this is a procedure. Also the final approach fix is FUNNN

@DJSnM Holy speed tape

Reconstructed flight based on ADS-B data,

@rookisaacman Was wondering if you’d keep flying with the new gig. Glad you’re staying in the air!

Flying into DC this time of year and making radio calls with Dulles Tower..reminds me of one of the great Christmas movies.

@CSI_Starbase Can’t wait!

This next episode feels like its going to be 90-120 minutes long...and I can't do anything about it. Apparently I can not explain the new features of Stage Zero 2.0 without including an in depth explanation about why each an every aspected of the updated design was necessary. If not for the fact that I covered much of the background info in a 2 part series earlier this year it would probably be 4 or 5 hours long. Ain't nobody got time for that

@mcrs987 Exactly what I needed to see. Thanks for putting together.

I reconstructed the descent of Starship 38 during Flight 11, to get a glimpse at what a future RTLS catch may look like. Full breakdown in 4k and in real-time up on Youtube.

@Alexphysics13 Was this the first time they skipped a single engine static fire?

Now the question is whether the data from this test was good enough such that they don’t need any engine replacements. To put it in context, every version 2 ship so far has needed an engine replacement or more prior to each of the flights that have occurred this year.

@realhomerhickam Just rewatched it! This movie got me into Spaceflight. Thanks @realhomerhickam!

Don’t know about the rest but there’s one movie on this list that’s based on one of my books that is, well, prodigious & is an anagram of that book. analyticsinsight.net/entertainment/…

@CSI_Starbase Thoughts on the heat shield color?

I don’t think the explosion in the aft section of Ship 37 was as bad as it looked. I have a feeling it was a simple mistake and will be the easiest thing to solve out of everything they encountered over the last 4 flights. More on this later…

@RGVaerialphotos @SpaceX One of my nightmares is the chopsticks not being long enough to reach the OLM on pad B.

@SpaceX Starbase Launch Pads 1 & 2 direct overhead view! 📸 July 4, 2025

@CSI_Starbase @LabPadre Please explain

Booster 18's Landing tank/transfer tube assembly being lifted into the vertical position for installation. This might be the one and only time we are able to see this. 🎥: @LabPadre