Latest at Starbase with LabPadre: May 5

BOCA CHICA, Texas (ValleyCentral) — This week at Starbase, demolition of portions of Starfactory continues as crews prep Starship 38 for stacking in Mega Bay Two, and Ship 35 undergoes two static fire tests as the next launch approaches.

Now let's dig into this week's update.

Monday morning, Ship 38's snow cone was brought out of Starfactory and sent over to Mega Bay.

Two rows of glass were pushed and broken out of the Starfactory building's wedge area, segmenting the building's exterior so it can be pulled down one section at a time.

Starship 36 was brought to the build site with the crowd proof passed.

Workers will install the aft flaps and the engines for static fire testing.

Ship 35 left Mega Bay Two and began its journey to the Massey outpost for static fire testing, heading up Highway 4 in the lower volumes of nighttime traffic.

A little over an hour later, Ship 36 was moved into Mega Bay Two.

Another hold-down arm for the second launch mount was delivered in the morning, giving a clear view of how arms look before they're installed.

Work at the tank farm expansion continued Wednesday, with crews building out the fuel handling side of the fuel farm with a new pump skid.

Late in the evening, Ship 35 was loaded with a small amount of propellant and performed a short seven-second single-engine static fire, simulating the conditions of a deorbit burn.

On Thursday morning, a valve sled for the methane side of the pump station was installed back at the build site.

Ship 38 forward dome section was brought out of Starfactory and taken to Mega Bay Two for stacking.

The Massey outpost tank farm began spooling up for a second round of static fire testing.

Prop load began on Ship 35, but fueling was aborted a few minutes later.

The quick disconnect arm was swung out from the Pad A launch tower, and a directional spray nozzle was tested a few minutes later.

Ship 35's six Raptor engines ignited for a 62nd test fire.

25 seconds into the burn, one of the engines sputtered, and with a bright flash, the static fire was aborted.

Burning flames lingered under the vehicle after shutdown.

The cause of the abort is currently unknown, but may be related to the engine failures on flights seven and eight back at the build site.

The first section of the Starfactory wall was pulled down.

Once the triangular annex is removed, workers will be one step closer to beginning the build of Gigabyte.

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