They just ran a ~25 second 33 engine static fire on Booster 20. I'm surprised as I figured they'd step through the igniter/spin prime tests first.

normaleagle05 said:

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They just ran a ~25 second 33 engine static fire on Booster 20. I'm surprised as I figured they'd step through the igniter/spin prime tests first.

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YOLO

It's really hard to appreciate the scale of this thing. I stood on Highway 4 with the fully stacked Flight 11 hardware on Pad 1 last year and it's still hard to grasp it with it standing right there. That tower is basically a 50 story building .

A beautiful release of B20's raptors from pad 2 this morning. pic.twitter.com/xHCk0th1Ac

— Avid Space (@LabPadre) July 10, 2026

SpaceX released the next episode in their docuseries! Critical Path.

The path to launch is filled with obstacles and success is only possible through the tireless efforts of many working together towards a common goal. “Critical Path” continues the ongoing Starship series, following SpaceX engineers through the final days before launch of the… pic.twitter.com/BSQsDO8VLf

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 10, 2026

I was offshore fishing and the test fired off and we all immediately thought the boat had an engine problem until we looked south and saw the plumes. Crazy how 20 miles away it was so deafening. I had no idea they were going to perform a test. I took some photos on the way out of the jetties and had no clue.

Kenneth_2003 said:

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Ok... watching on a real monitor...
1) No landing legs
2) What at first look like cables are cross bracing between those corners... I see nothing running crossways
3) No way cables if they're in there are strong enough to support that weight
4) Chinese are trying to copy Falcon 9... Unless I'm mistaken I haven't seen them yet testing Starship or Super Heavy booster copies
5) Look at the end... Engines cut and the vehicle drops further, then stops... NO way you'd cut engines feet above the catch point and let the vehicle free fall, even inches. The damage would be structurally catastrophic. You're going to integrate laser range finders and weight-on-catch point sensors (strain gages) to command engine throttling and cutoff.

I'm going with fake

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Umm, they've been working on this for at least 2 years, a couple fails already.

view from 1st stage.... looks like it was ok in orbithttps://t.co/eGIipoylrK pic.twitter.com/69KtNHjQNI

— Denis Karablev (@tvguidemsk) July 10, 2026

Previous sea trial splash down here;

Diese kleine Animation kann dabei helfen, sich besser vorstellen zu können, wie die Landung der Changzheng 10B ablaufen könnte.

Falls allerdings die Erststufe der CZ-10B nicht erfolgreich landet, steht die Zhuque-3 von Landspace bereits in den Startlöchern. https://t.co/TtRV7Cd7Pc pic.twitter.com/lx3uhglN1u

— Shah Cyrux (@shahcyrux) July 9, 2026

I will say, I don't think it's particularly elegant.

nortex97 said:

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I will say, I don't think it's particularly elegant.

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It could be like training wheels as they refine it.

It's hard to judge the scale of that booster. Is it similar to a Falcon 9 or starship?

Closer to f9. But ultimately it's just not competitive for rapid re-use vs. the RTLS chopsticks imho.

She's looking a little beat up with midding aerocovers, protection paint, and I think chipped engine bells

Overall a really good condition for a first landing!! pic.twitter.com/Aoa7JBaBnR

— Truthful🛰️ (@Truthful_ast) July 10, 2026

It's akin to comparing a Kia Sorento to an F1 car. One is designed to go down the road for a few years, the other for something else, despite both being 4 cylinder hybrid cars.

So it comes down into a Chinese Finger Trap? Really?

Oh man this just popped up on my YT feed. Super cool

Dang they took it down. Ah I see the X version has already been posted above.

Liftoff mass is estimated to be ~40% higher than Falcon with a similar payload to orbit. People that think that vehicle is going to knock down Falcon think that "simpler" or "easier" design is better. Hard mode, best mode is Elon's process. China is brute forcing what SpaceX did with elegance. Better engine, lower mass vehicle, hover slam rather than hover landing.

Good for China and all that, but just seems technologically inferior to SpaceX.

hph6203 said:

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Liftoff mass is estimated to be ~40% higher than Falcon with a similar payload to orbit. People that think that vehicle is going to knock down Falcon think that "simpler" or "easier" design is better. Hard mode, best mode is Elon's process. China is brute forcing what SpaceX did with elegance. Better engine, lower mass vehicle, hover slam rather than hover landing.

Good for China and all that, but just seems technologically inferior to SpaceX.

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Well of course this. SpaceX is over a decade ahead.

I agree. Impossible to convince the people with Elon Derangement Syndrome on X assuring everyone this is a better designed rocket and landing system than Falcon.

Close-up stage capture footage of the CZ-10B from the cable net barge. via https://t.co/ulR7uRDRBC pic.twitter.com/1hmDOq5WN2

— Ace of Razgriz (@raz_liu) July 11, 2026

The return of Long March 10 booster, view from the ship https://t.co/ILLQ4rpRwv pic.twitter.com/EjJe8PxKcm

— CNSPACE (@CNSpaceflight) July 11, 2026

It's the Japanese Starhopper!! 😍 pic.twitter.com/eyan7hf9AI

— Chris Combs (iterative design enjoyer) (@DrChrisCombs) July 11, 2026

(also on the gaseous commodities, just for reference there should be roughly 6,050kg in total when fully loaded, which it is not by this point)

— TheSpaceEngineer (@mcrs987) July 11, 2026

Starship’s thirteenth flight test is preparing to launch as early as Thursday, July 16 → https://t.co/Rp7VwBzpWx pic.twitter.com/jdpFlQUEpF

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 11, 2026

SpaceX just announced that they will be deploying V3 Starlink satellites for the first time during their 13th Starship test flight next week! Six of the satellites have been modified with a suite of cameras to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery.

Summary of every… https://t.co/O8BaFyrufh pic.twitter.com/9ilTqtn9in

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) July 11, 2026

Are these V3's going to just test the design and take pics of Starship upper stage? Excited to see this happen in any case. Possible launch on Thursday!

Fun video, fwiw. I've heard/read that these sort of 'ride share' small sats are shifting to the flat format to accommodate the pez dispenser looking ahead.

FAA closes Starship flight 12 mishap probe, clearing way for Flight 13 as soon as this week pic.twitter.com/g3NDxeS1GM

— Joey Roulette (@joroulette) July 13, 2026

SpaceX uploaded their Flight 12 doc to YouTube so much easier viewing on your big screen at home.

Minor note, SPCX is around $140 today and IF IFT13 is a success could see a nice little momentary bump.

ETA: Frontier airlines is now also adding Starlink. I think all the US majors are, but for Delta (which went with Amazon).

Possibly. The average retail investor looks at the ticker and just looks at the rockets and the internet. The big institutional investors (and I think the savvy folks here on TA as well) recognize there is a lot more to SPCX than that.

I'm still curious what happens when the big VC firms that were in on SpaceX early start heading for the exits when their shares unlock later in Q3.

Those unlocks look to be favorably aligned with Starship entering real operations. That should be interesting.

That's why I'm not investing just yet. I think it's going to drop a ways once the VCs get to profit-taking. It's not that I don't believe in SpaceX (obviously), and I think if you are invested, just sit and forget about it for a while, but I'm going to wait until I think an orbital Starship flight is imminent.

I don't disagree at all. At this phase it is tough to read the tea leaves but it is what I would term an 'emotional' stock. Clearly the price isn't driven by financials but rather the sentiment and steps toward massive goals. I bought a few shares last week/yesterday but won't dip my toes in too far, I am just curious to see how it goes the next couple of years.

The orbital AI plans are just over my head (pun intended), and will require massive advances to even come close to the objectives.

SpaceX’s thirteenth Starship test flight on Thursday is going to be a big one.

The gap since the last flight will be about 55 days, which one of the quickest turnarounds so far. SpaceX is aiming for a monthly Starship launch cadence. They’re getting close.

During Flight 13, for… pic.twitter.com/MwwaBtzU1Z

— Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) July 14, 2026

nortex97 said:

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Minor note, SPCX is around $140 today and IF IFT13 is a success could see a nice little momentary bump.

ETA: Frontier airlines is now also adding Starlink. I think all the US majors are, but for Delta (which went with Amazon).

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If it explodes on the launching pad, buy SPCX the next day.

Sooo let's say you've been longing to get a chance to see a launch....

If you were, hypothetically... laid off this morning and other than needing to do some resume work, completely free, what would the logistics look like for a last minute run to Boca?

It's a 5-1/2 hour drive. Easy

I was shocked at how light the crowds were for 12 compared to other launches.

MAROON said:

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It's a 5-1/2 hour drive. Easy

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I know that part... Anyone have insights on parking, hotels, how early to get there etc? Should I head down tomorrow and stay in Kingsville or CC? That's more my question.

OOHHHH I could stay in Corpus and leave the shower running!

Skydancer successfully did its extreme divert test of the readiness of control systems and avionics for the upcoming Eagle S4MXP inaugural flight test pic.twitter.com/zIeuWpePyo

— ISX (@ISX_Space) July 14, 2026

Kenneth_2003 said:

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MAROON said:

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It's a 5-1/2 hour drive. Easy

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I know that part... Anyone have insights on parking, hotels, how early to get there etc? Should I head down tomorrow and stay in Kingsville or CC? That's more my question.

OOHHHH I could stay in Corpus and leave the shower running!

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We went for flight 11 and stayed on a canal in Port Isabel. We were able to see the launch great from the rental, but the booster return offshore wasn't visible below a certain level because of the adjacent houses.

If I was going to watch from the beach at the County park I'd stay on the island and plan to be on the beach by 2 or 3 at the latest (not having actually researched that). Definitely plan to get in early and go down to Starbase and see the full stack in person. NOT. OPTIONAL. In my experience.

Fascinating.

For those that haven't heard yet, the tax abatements were approved 5-2 by both schools in Grimes County tonight.
All that is left is for the governor's approval today (July 15) for SpaceX Terafab's official approval.
It's really happening gif.
BCS is about to change tremendously.