Latest at Starbase with LabPadre: Sept 15

STARBASE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — This week at Starbase, a new test tank makes its debut ahead of testing. The new mega bunker at the launch site continues to take shape, and endless concrete pours for the new Giga Bay. We also get a glimpse of workers fabricating the header tank inside Star Factory.

On Friday afternoon, the forward section of the B 18.3 test tank emerged from the star factory and was staged inside the ring yard.

About an hour later, the next part of the test article, this one, a common dome section, was also rolled out of the star factory and staged next to the first piece.

On Saturday, first, the common dome section, and later the forward section, with its new permanent hot staging section, were taken into Mega Bay one for stacking.

Also on Saturday, vacuum raptor number 581 was moved to Mega Bay Two and taken to the left side of the building, likely for installation on ship 38.

Early on Thursday, the rover camera caught welders working on what appeared to be a new header tank inside the nose cone aisle of Star Factory.

Moving on to construction at the launch complex, on Friday, the continuous flight auger working on piles for the new air separation plant across from the launch complex was moved up the road to the Star Hoppers parking lot to prepare for departure.

Over by the D2 gate, work continues on the new mega bunker, with a roadside building, steel skeleton taking shape.

A large piping manifold was lifted into place to connect the recently delivered water tanks to the rest of the deluge farm.

During the early hours of Saturday morning, a fresh concrete pour got underway for the next section of the foundation for the new Giga Bay.

The pour continued through the morning, lasted over 10 hours, and used almost 150 trucks of concrete.

In the early hours of Monday morning, less than 17 hours after the static fire, booster 15 was lifted back off the launch mount and transferred onto its awaiting transport stand.

Once the rocket was secure, the chopsticks were moved down from the lift points, opened, and lowered to the stops while the ship's quick-disconnect arms swung back in.

About an hour later, booster 15 was rolled across the pad and onto Highway four to begin its journey back to the build site.

Stay tuned to LabPadre for continued live coverage and other detailed Starbase content. Visit the LabPadre YouTube channel or LabPadre.com.