First Starship V3 FULL STACK for Flight 12, But WDR Test Scubbed! Can it Make History…

It actually happened, my fellow space enthusiasts and people who are just here because the internet is a weird and wonderful place. We are officially witnessing a moment that feels like the series finale of a very long, very high-stakes drama because Starship S-39 has finally arrived at Pad 2 to join B-19 for the first time in a full V3 stack. The final test is officially ready to rock and I have to ask, are you actually ready for this level of intensity in your life? Because honestly, my heart rate is already approaching the levels of a Raptor engine at full throttle and I've not even finished my first cup of coffee of the day yet. Next up on the menu of Cosmic News, we have a newly released number that shows just how massive the public appeal of Artemis 2 truly is and it's quite a doozy. Meanwhile, across the pond, Europe is getting ready to launch its very first reusable spacecraft, which is a huge shift in the way they handle the whole going to space thing. We're going to find out all about these incredible developments and more on today's episode of Great SpaceX, so pull up a chair and let us get into the weeds of aerospace engineering. We just collectively witnessed the first booster V3 test run for the third time in what felt like a very compressed timeline. That specific test was not just a repeat of the past, but it actually showed significant progress in both sheer power and sustained duration. This progress is a massive signal to the world that the B19 individual testing campaign is finally complete and the hardware is ready for the big show. After that successful run, SpaceX quietly removed August 8th from the list of scheduled test dates, but that absolutely did not mean things were going quiet at the launch site. In fact, it was quite the opposite, as this was the day that S39 became the main focus of everyone's attention and camera lenses. As we all pretty much predicted, the moment the ship transport stand reached Mega Bay 2, it was a flashing neon sign that S39 was about to make its big move. In reality, the actual movement schedule experienced some of those minor annoying delays that we all face when trying to fix something complicated. The ground crew had to spend some time fixing issues with the chopsticks, specifically replacing the skates on the carriage that connects the tower to the robotic arms. It's basically the high-stakes multi-million dollar version of having to fix a squeaky wheel on a grocery cart before you can start your shopping. When everything was finally complete and the engineers were happy, on the morning of May 8th, S39 was carefully lifted onto the transport stand for its journey. At just after 6 p.m. Central Standard Time, S39 officially left the comfort of Mega Bay 2 and started its slow, dramatic crawl toward the launch pad. After a few hours of tension, it reached the pad, even though S39 experienced some swaying during the flight that probably gave the transport team a few gray hairs. Fortunately, the giant stainless steel beast remained stable enough to complete the journey and arrive at its new home in one piece. Upon arrival at the pad, S39 went right into the middle of the chopsticks, which always looks like a giant robotic hug from a sci-fi movie. It was then lifted to prepare for the massive test schedule that was set to run from 8 in the morning to 8 in the evening on the 9th. This moment marks the first full stack of S39 and B19, and more importantly, it's the world's first look at a fully integrated Starship V3. We're now looking at a vehicle that stands over 120 meters tall, featuring a laundry list of upgrades compared to the versions we saw last year. It's standing on a brand new launch pad and it's very likely that this specific vehicle is the one that is going to make history in just a few short days. Before we get to the actual launch, SpaceX is going to conduct another full wet dress rehearsal during the May 9th test window. This is a standard procedure for every flight once the vehicle has been stacked, acting as the ultimate dress rehearsal before the main event. However, you might remember that on the final V1 and V2 flights, SpaceX felt confident enough to skip this specific step. They felt that the separate tests for each stage were sufficient, but this is the first flight of the V3 and this version absolutely requires a success. Because the stakes are so high for this new iteration, the team has officially brought the full wet dress rehearsal back into the rotation. Specifically, during this test, the crew will load the super chilled fuel into both stages of the rocket at the same time. This load will fill all the tanks on both the booster and the ship, mimicking exactly what we saw during the full frosty cryogenic tests. Along with the fuel loading, they will conduct the essential engine chill to make sure the hardware does not crack under the pressure of the When the fuel tanks are completely full, the countdown will tick down to approximately T-2 minutes according to the official timeline. After those steps are checked off, SpaceX will likely activate the massive water deluge system to perform one final check of the ground hardware. They need to assess whether the sheer force of all that water affects a vehicle that is already sitting there heavy and full of fuel. The amount of water sprayed at both ends and on top of the deck is expected to be anywhere from 300,000 to 450,000 gallons in just a few seconds. Finally, the detanking step will take place as the fuel is carefully unloaded from the vehicle and put back into storage. This means that every single procedure that leads up to a lift off will be carried out except for the actual engine firing and the opening of the OLM clamps. This is honestly a very impressive test to witness even without the fire because a fully fueled Starship stack weighs over 5,000 tons. The sheer strength and cold of the test will be obvious to anyone watching as venting will cover the entire launch site in a thick fog. You'll also see a beautiful layer of white frost covering the entire leeward side of the ship as the cryogenic fuel does its thing. Completing this test successfully is the final hurdle SpaceX needs to clear before they can move toward the actual launch day preparations. To make it easier for the engineers to check the stages and the ground systems one last time, S39 might actually be destacked from the B19 after the test. If that happens, they will only restack the ship about one day before the actual launch window opens up. I honestly don't think a flight has ever been quite as anticipated as this one and that's mostly because we've been waiting for over half a year. It's also because this is the first flight of a brand new version of the most powerful rocket ever built, which is a pretty big deal in my book. And finally, it's because this specific flight is going to determine so many of the missions and schedules that happen for the rest of the decade. The big question on everyone's mind right now is what percentage chance of success SpaceX has for this next mission. I would personally choose a hundred percent and that's not just because I'm a fan, but it's a genuine wish for the hardworking teams behind the project. I want to hear your predictions in the comments, so let me know if you're feeling as optimistic as I am today. Also, please don't forget to like the video and subscribe to our channel so you can keep following this wild development journey. Subscriptions are a huge motivation for our team, and we currently sit at over 199,000 and 100 subscribers as of this morning. This means we only need about 900 more people to hit that button before we reach that massive milestone of 200K subscribers. There are still quite a few of you watching who have not officially joined the family yet, so we really hope you will consider supporting us. It's the best way to make sure you are among the first people to get updates on SpaceX and the rest of the aerospace industry. Now, let us pivot and talk about a significant milestone that has been reached regarding the Artemis 2 mission. It's clear that when you have an event this big, you're going to see an enormous crowd of people lining the Florida Space Coast to watch. According to a new update from the Space Coast Office, approximately 346,000 visitors flooded into the northern half of Brevard County. This massive influx of people happened between March 29th and the 4th during the peak of the Artemis 2 launch campaign. To put that number into perspective, that's roughly the equivalent of the entire population of Honolulu, Hawaii showing up in one spot. The office revealed that they used cellular device tracking software to gather this data on U.S. adults who live outside of the region. Naturally, this method would only measure a portion of the total visitors who were actually present for the event. In an official email, the office said this does not include international phone carriers, children, people without phones, phones that were off, or Brevard County residents. This means the actual number of people standing on the beach looking at the sky could be much higher than the published figure. Additionally, they provided some very interesting statistics on how much people were spending while they were in town. The typical Artemis 2 visitors spent about two days on the coast, and the tracking software showed an average spend of about $462 per person. That level of spending translates to a total of $41 million in visitor spending across the entire Artemis 2 launch week. For a bit of context, this number easily surpasses the number of visitors who showed up for the original Artemis 1 mission. That unmanned lunar mission back in 2022 was already a big deal, but it only attracted 226,000 visitors to the area. The difference in the crowd size is almost certainly because Artemis 2 is a manned mission, which added a whole new level of human drama. Artemis 2 sent four brave astronauts on a 10-day loop around the moon to prove that we were ready to go back for good. The crew included NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, as well as Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency. This was the first mission to travel beyond low Earth orbit since all the way back in 1972 when Apollo 17 left the lunar surface. Of course, if we compared these numbers to the original Apollo missions, they were still considered somewhat modest. The most legendary missions, like Apollo 11 and 17, famously attracted over a million live viewers to the Florida coast. That was mostly due to the fact that they were the very first missions to land people on the moon, which captivated the entire world. That is not even mentioning the tens of millions of people who were glued to their television sets back in the late 60s and early 70s. Although live viewership numbers might have been lower than Apollo, I firmly believed that Artemis 2 would crush the Apollo records for online viewership. The internet, social media platforms, and the fact that everyone had a supercomputer in their pocket made it so easy to follow the mission. The final number for total viewers across all platforms easily reached hundreds of millions of people globally. I also believed that both live and online viewership would continue to climb as we got closer to actual landing missions like Artemis 4 and 5. Those missions would involve high stakes landers like the SpaceX Starship HLS and Blue Origin's crewed version of the Blue Moon. That'll be a time when the entire country will be more united than ever as we focus on a single incredible goal. And for our last roundup of updates, Europe is finally jumping into the reusability game with a new spacecraft called SpaceRider. Breaking from their traditional expendable path, this wingless lifting body vehicle is designed to survive re-entry and land under a steerable parafoil. It acts as an uncrewed lab that can stay in orbit for two months before returning experiments to Earth. The underside features 21 IzzyComp ceramic tiles that were tested at 10 times the speed of sound. Engineers are also prepping a minivan-sized drop model for autonomous landing tests in Sardinia later this year. Despite the challenges, the European Space Agency recently stated the prototype has been acing its tests so far after enduring 2,900 degrees Fahrenheit. These are Europe's first steps toward reuse, and it's an exciting shift for our entire industry. That officially brings us to the end of today's episode of Great SpaceX, and I am so glad you joined me for the update. Thank you so much for tuning in and for all of the support you've shown the channel as we get closer to our goals. As always, this has been Kevin, your resident space enthusiast, signing off for the day. Until next time, keep your eyes on the horizon and keep looking up.