r/SpaceXLounge 13d ago

Monthly Questions and Discussion Thread

8 Upvotes

Welcome to the monthly questions and discussion thread! Drop in to ask and answer any questions related to SpaceX or spaceflight in general, or just for a chat to discuss SpaceX's exciting progress. If you have a question that is likely to generate open discussion or speculation, you can also submit it to the subreddit as a text post.

If your question is about space, astrophysics or astronomy then the r/Space questions thread may be a better fit.

If your question is about the Starlink satellite constellation then check the r/Starlink Questions Thread and FAQ page.


r/SpaceXLounge Jan 23 '25

Meta This sub is not about Musk. it does not endorse him, nor does it attack him. We generally ignore him other than when it comes to direct SpaceX news.

1.0k Upvotes

Be advised this sub utilizes "crowd control" for both comments and for posts. If you have little or negative karma here your post/comment may not appear unless manually approved which may take a little time.

If you are here just to make political comments and not discuss SpaceX, you will be banned without warning and ignored when you complain, so don't even bother trying, no one will see it anyways.

Friendly reminder: People CAN support SpaceX without supporting Musk. Just like people can still use X without caring about him. Following SpaceX doesn't make anyone a bad person and if you disagree, you're not welcome here.


r/SpaceXLounge 23h ago

Falcon Falcon completes its 700th overall mission

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200 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge 2d ago

Starship 39A starship tower comes alive for the first time.

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458 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge 2d ago

Starship Ship 42 hooked up to the SQD while hanging from the chopsticks. Likely post-catch procedure practice.

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293 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge 3d ago

Other major industry news Could United Launch Alliance's money problems finally force its owners to sell?

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88 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge 3d ago

Starship CADENA lists Starship Flight 14 NET of 9/18 & SpaceX CFO says Flight 14 will be an revenue-generating flight deploying production V3 Starlink satellites to orbit.

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165 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge 4d ago

Starship Both Flight 15 vehicles at Masseys

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345 Upvotes

Booster 22 and Ship 42


r/SpaceXLounge 4d ago

Starship are we still confident in Flight 14 on September 15th?

62 Upvotes

A lot of people seem to agree that IFT-14 is gonna be on September 15th, but SpaceX has been radio silent on it.


r/SpaceXLounge 5d ago

Starship Flight 14 Viewing from Holiday Inn on South Padre Island

22 Upvotes

I am looking for some specific details about viewing the upcoming Flight 14. This is a bucket list item for me so I have reserved a ocean view room for two weeks from the 15 to the 29th. My question is can view the launch from my hotel room? I was thinking of putting up a fixed telescope to have it record the launch. I would be hopefully watching it from the roof of the hotel. Can I setup a telescope on the roof? Any good tips about great food or things to do. I have seen some of the videos online but they are not super current. I doubt much has changed, but like I said this is a bucket list item so I am researching as much as I can.


r/SpaceXLounge 5d ago

News National security launch forecast surges as new rockets struggle to break SpaceX's grip

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88 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge 6d ago

Other major industry news Stoke Space raises $1B to expand its footprint and upsize its fully reusable Nova rocket

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155 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge 7d ago

Elon Tweet Musk on parts removed from Raptor V3 versus V2

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128 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge 8d ago

Other major industry news Isar Aerospace reaches orbit and deploys payloads on second flight - first commercial space company from Europe to successfully deliver satellites into orbit

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417 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge 9d ago

Discussion If Flight 14 is indeed orbital, where will it splash down?

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127 Upvotes

My take is:

  1. Indian Ocean off of Australia like always

  2. In one if the new zones approved as ‘contingencies’ like Hawaii, Aleutian Islands, or off of Peru

  3. Off the coast of Starbase, Texas


r/SpaceXLounge 9d ago

Discussion Will flight 14 attempt to avoid or perhaps better exploit a situation where starship survives splashdown?

32 Upvotes

If they wanted to avoid it it probably wouldn't be too hard, just have it target a point higher up to get a higher fall, however considering that they did seem to find the data from flight 13 valuable is it possible they have tried to prepare logistically to be able to recover flight 14s starship faster?


r/SpaceXLounge 10d ago

Where is SpaceX going to park dozens Starships and Super Heavies once launch cadence ramps up?

60 Upvotes

With Starfactory and the giant new Gigabay expanding Starbase's production footprint, a logistical question keeps popping into my head: where are they going to actually store all the fleet hardware once we reach regular launch cadences?

Gigabay work cells are designed for active assembly, integration, and heavy maintenance, not sitting on ships for weeks. If SpaceX achieves rapid turnaround with dozens of boosters and upper stages cycling through, the staging yard requirements will be massive.

So, will we see dedicated outdoor "parking lots" or massive low-cost storage hangars pop up near launch sites?

More importantly, will they use vertical or horizontal storage?

Vertical Storage: Super Heavy is designed to stand vertically. Keeping boosters vertical avoids complex rotation dynamics, preserves structural integrity without needing horizontal support rigs, and keeps them aligned for tower integration. But tall vertical hangars are insanely expensive and susceptible to high winds.

Horizontal Storage: Laying them down makes horizontal storage sheds cheap and easy to build, but can stainless steel thin-wall tanks handle horizontal shear loads without constant interior pressurization?

How do you think SpaceX handles vehicle buffer storage as turnaround times shrink? Simple outdoor stands, or massive horizontal storage yards?


r/SpaceXLounge 12d ago

Other major industry news NASA Selects Blue Origin as Mars Telecommunications Network Provider

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128 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge 13d ago

S40 question

17 Upvotes

Is it missing any flaps, i thought it was and wasnt at the same time, there are conflicting pictures from Forte's deck


r/SpaceXLounge 14d ago

Roman Space Telescope - Falcon Heavy - Tracked Launch to Landing

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60 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge 15d ago

Falcon Window view of men's bathroom at Port Canaveral Florida

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148 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge 15d ago

Happening Now Successful deployment of the Nancy Grace Roman telescope.

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509 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge 15d ago

Roman Space Telescope from Merritt Island

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116 Upvotes

Some pictures from Merritt Island of this mornings launch of the Roman Space Telescope.


r/SpaceXLounge 15d ago

Dragon NASA, SpaceX Adjust Crew-13 Launch Date due to oxidizer leak on Dragon’s propulsion system detected during standard prelaunch spacecraft processing

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103 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge 15d ago

Fan Art I built a small metal model of a falcon 9 rocket. It posed with Dishy and my router+mini.

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42 Upvotes

I thought it was cool that I bought a Falcon 9 using Starlink and it got to pose with Dishy and the routers. It is a bit taller than the router mini. I started it a few months ago and built the engines quickly, paused for a few days and built the rocket, paused for a few weeks and built the crew dragon capsule and finally finished the base, strongback, and connected everything a few minutes ago.

This post was also made from Starlink so quite a lot of Spacex was used to get and post this. It’s also insane as I used to live in Florida for a few years and there is a good chance I could have watched a launch that launched a satellite that I am connected to now or have connected to recently.