SpaceX Prepares to Roll Back Booster 7 | SpaceX Boca Chica

SpaceX is moving SPMTs into place as they prepare to remove Booster 7 from the launch mount for transport back to the Production Site. This move is following an explosion underneath the vehicle during testing.

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L2 Boca Chica (more clips and photos) from BC's very early days to today.

0:00 Sunrise Over the Launch Site
0:12 New Actuator Installed on the Chopsticks
1:33 Raptor Platform Below Booster 7
2:06 The Orbital Launch Mount
2:36 Booster 7
2:49 Ship 24 on Suborbital Pad B
3:03 Tiles Installed on Ship 24
4:02 SPMTs Arrive at the Launch Site
4:29 Crews Work on Ship 24
5:19 More SPMTs Arrive Carrying Ballast
5:37 SPMTs Move Underneath the Booster Transport Stand
6:21 Booster Transport Stand Moved
6:56 Crews on the Raptor Platform Continue Inspecting Booster 7
7:14 Ship 25 Nosecone Outside the Tents
7:31 Booster 9 Forward Dome Section
8:23 Scaffolding on the Mega Bay
8:40 Raptor Engines Moved Into the Tents
9:11 Work Continues on the Starfactory Building
10:03 Booster 5 Scrapping
10:38 Raptor Platform Still in Use as the Sun Sets

[NASASpaceflight]

0:00 Sunrise Over the Launch Site
0:12 New Actuator Installed on the Chopsticks
1:33 Raptor Platform Below Booster 7
2:06 The Orbital Launch Mount
2:36 Booster 7
2:49 Ship 24 on Suborbital Pad B
3:03 Tiles Installed on Ship 24
4:02 SPMTs Arrive at the Launch Site
4:29 Crews Work on Ship 24
5:19 More SPMTs Arrive Carrying Ballast
5:37 SPMTs Move Underneath the Booster Transport Stand
6:21 Booster Transport Stand Moved
6:56 Crews on the Raptor Platform Continue Inspecting Booster 7
7:14 Ship 25 Nosecone Outside the Tents
7:31 Booster 9 Forward Dome Section
8:23 Scaffolding on the Mega Bay
8:40 Raptor Engines Moved Into the Tents
9:11 Work Continues on the Starfactory Building
10:03 Booster 5 Scrapping
10:38 Raptor Platform Still in Use as the Sun Sets

[cipedead]

It’s so good to see the team at StarBase do not waste any time. I hope to booster 7 come back very soon.
Thank you NSF and your amazing team keeping us all up to date.

[richardsworkbench]

Not sure why but I enjoy Nic Ansuini's videos because I see people and equipment "working".

[badrinair]

Thank you Mary, NIc and NSF team for sharing the footage with us. The pipes at the base of the OLM does look cynged alright . THe joins between the barrel sections on S24 is finally getting its tiles installed. So much progress . I enjoy watching their pace and relentless work .

[TechPlasma]

Shout out to that random SpaceX engineer who was very proud of the photo he took. You're awesome.

[MrGoesBoom]

Considering the forces expected during launch I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing B7 again. Still, can't blame them for hauling her back to production to give her a good check up. Might not have been planned or desired but I'm sure SpaceX will get some good data from this mess. Especially important since they're ramping things up in Florida, best time to learn new things is before the sister site really gets going

[Raydio]

The work that is going on here is absolutely amazing!
Makes me want to move to Texas and join the team

[westernwarlords]

I guess one upside to the big boom on booster 7 is that the tiles on ship 24 held against the shockwave. Doesn’t look like we lost any from the pressure wave.

[joshpro]

2 solutions... 1) make the launch stand taller or dig down to make more air flow space. 2) install some big ass fans under the stand itself to move the gases away from underneath while testing / launching.

[JakeSilvester]

This is the best community on Youtube! :D I'm very glad to be a part of it!

[captaindaedalus]

You can tell, that actuator has a lot more flow and will be much quicker. I expect they'll be replacing the other one soon.

[mosshark]

I'm still worried about how they are going to divert that much thrust on lift off. The platform at least proved to be steady but the thrust from the booster is going straight into concrete, I believe. That doesn't bode well for the booster or it's surroundings, especially the tanks.

[larrybuzbee]

So long as nobody gets an eye poked out, or worse, there are no accidents, only operational excursions/opportunities to further perfect the systems.

[DavidKutzler]

2:19 Is it my imagination, or do the two metal cabinet covers in the upper left look like they were pushed in by the pressure wave from the explosion?

[charlesmiller]

Any word yet on the cause of the CH4 blast under B7?
Excellent vids NSF !!!

[jameshancock]

IF you remember just before explosion they had just removed the part the day before and the strap that was holding it got blasted off in the event. Glad to know it still works and with a fresh coat of paint on the bottom of the OLM . I think they should just paint that part black as it will get smoked each time the launch. IT will be good to go. and the Engine's should be fine as well as they are built to endure this as it will get blasted each time they light the engines . hope to see it fly soon.

[jaysonpida]

Ouch, that's a lot of scorch damage on those exposed machinery areas of the pad ---I hope it's mostly 'cosmetic'.
As others have said...quickest & most cost effective process would be to jump immediately to the next booster while taking this one apart to see what can be learned/applied then fix any damage and 'plug' it back into the delivery schedule.
It will be fascinating to see what (if any) damage occured to the engines and internal structure --critical data to be collected by SpaceX for the future.

[YourMJK]

5:05 Lol, that's some high quality shade

[XtnInsecticide]

Regardless if they swap boasters, it would be typical routine to do proper checks which would likely involve having to remove, massive stakes involved, any other trade would do it, a proper check, any big business with proper technicians would do so, no tech would want to risk losing their job by skipping possible tests and not testing everything to the best of their abilities even if not fully necessary, it’s called watching your own a$$.

[Waffles]

All the people saying B7 is done said the same thing when the transfer tube crumpled, and then SpaceX fixed it within a few days and sent it back to the pad.