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SpaceX begins launch pad upgrades for Starship flight tests in Texas and Florida

SpaceX has begun outfitting its Boca Chica, Texas launch facilities with hardware meant for Starship Mk1's first flights. (NASASpaceflight - bocachicagal, SpaceX)

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7 years ago

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Beneath the buzz of Starship Mk1’s glamorous wing installation, SpaceX has begun installing new launch pad hardware meant to support the spacecraft’s first flights, several components of which have been in Boca Chica for more than a year.

Simultaneously, SpaceX broke ground on a complimentary Starship launch facility on September 21st, an add-on to the existing LC-39A pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida and the probable site of Starship’s first Super Heavy-supported orbital launch attempts.

SpaceX’s Starship-related progress at Pad 39A was noted and photographed by Julia Bergeron on September 21st during one of the hour-long bus tours offered by Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor Complex (KSCVC). SpaceX has been staging hardware at the proposed location of its Pad 39A Starship launch mount over the last ten or so days and finally broke ground (i.e. actually moved earth) on Saturday, a likely indicator that the company was waiting on an official go-ahead or construction permit.

The work at 39A could take anywhere from a few dozen weeks to 6-12 months depending on how substantial the changes are and how permanent SpaceX wants the facilities to be. For the time being, SpaceX applications show a fairly minimal series of modifications, including a concrete pad, a steel launch mount and water-cooled rocket exhaust diverter, a methane farm and associated plumbing, extensions of existing oxygen/nitrogen/helium ground systems, and a few stormwater management-related items.

At the same time, SpaceX is planning to transport its Starship Mk2 prototype – currently staged at a Cocoa, FL assembly facility – several dozen miles to Pad 39A as early as this month, although October is looking more likely. It appears that SpaceX has diverted a large portion of its Florida Starship workforce to Texas in an attempt to expedite Starship Mk1 integration, but SpaceX Cocoa has already fabricated nearly two-dozen steel rings and is likely far ahead of Boca Chica on the road to the first Super Heavy prototype. Barring calamity, Starship Mk1 is nevertheless all but guaranteed to beat Mk2 to flight.

Entering ‘Phase 2’

Back in Boca Chica, Texas, SpaceX ground engineers and technicians are working to upgrade the site’s existing launch facilities, previously used to support an extremely fast-paced campaign of Starhopper wet rehearsals, Raptor static fires, and hops. Starhopper completed its second and final flight on August 27th and the low-fidelity prototype will be retired either as a monument or a static Raptor test stand. Although the existing pad hardware was more than enough for Starhopper, Starship is much larger and has new needs that demand a few upgrades.

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Phase 2 is pictured here. Generally speaking, Starship Mk1 mainly needs a lot more propellant than Starhopper. (SpaceX)

Along the lines of its proposed Phase 2 modifications, partially pictured above, SpaceX delivered two massive, new propellant tanks (one for methane, one for oxygen) on September 19th and September 22nd. Somewhat fittingly, those tanks marked the first major rocket-related SpaceX movement in Boca Chica after a long period of inactivity, and their deliveries in July and October 2018 rekindled the excitement surrounding the company’s South Texas launch site.

Both tanks are pictured here at a nearby storage, power, and communications facility in November 2018. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)
Almost a year later, SpaceX’s main Starship propellant storage tanks were moved from storage to the Boca Chica launch facilities on Sept 19 and 22. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)

It remains to be seen whether SpaceX will revamp its current pad with a full concrete foundation and the nature of the Phase 2 pad’s launch mount and water deluge is also unclear. However, the upgrades do appear to be minimal and should take no more than a few weeks to a few months. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wants Starship Mk1 ready for its first flight tests as early as October 2019 and the company has filed for FCC communications permits that indicate a no-earlier-than (NET) date of October 13th.

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Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Investor's Corner

Lucid denies rumors of bankruptcy after over 40% stock drop

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8 hours ago

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July 14, 2026

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Credit: Lucid

Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group has denied rumors of an imminent bankruptcy after a report from this morning sent the stock on a dramatic drop on Wall Street, seeing losses of more than 40 percent during trading hours.

Lucid’s Director of Communications, Nick Twork, responded to the report from Eletric-Vehicles.com, which stated the company’s restructuring advisor, AlixPartners, was asked to review two decisions: taking Lucid shares private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The report also claims AlixPartners told the Lucid board to “concentrate on Gravity production while improving its quality, and to temporarily hold back the Lucid Air, the sedan that has defined the company since its launch.”

Twork said:

Shares rebounded after the response to the report, halving its losses as the trading day neared 3 p.m. Eastern.

Lucid has struggled to get its sales off the ground and into more respectable numbers, but the company is in its early years, when things are hard to begin with. It is also backed by several notable investors, including the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has nearly limitless money and likely would not ditch an investment of this size so soon.

Lucid shares were down just 14 percent at the time of publication, a far cry from the 55 percent its losses topped out at during the day.

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Tesla owner attempts resale of Model S Signature Edition for over $260k

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11 hours ago

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July 14, 2026

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Credit: Tesla

A Tesla owner who purchased a Model S Signature Edition, one of the final 250 units of the all-electric flagship vehicle that the company discontinued earlier this year, is attempting to sell the car despite a no-resale clause that prohibits reselling for the first year.

The car is being sold by J&S Autohaus in Ewing, New Jersey, and is priced at $260,490, well above the $159,420 that Tesla sold it for earlier this year.

To those who do not know, the Model S Signature was a highly exclusive, limited-run farewell variant of the Model S Plaid that was produced this year to mark the end of production of both the Model S and Model X, Tesla’s two flagship vehicles.

Limited to just 250 units with invite-only sales, it serves as a collector’s item celebrating the legacy of the Model S, which helped pioneer Tesla’s electric vehicle success since its 2012 launch.

It bundles top-tier performance with bespoke cosmetic and luxury upgrades, plus Tesla’s Luxe Package. Here’s what the Model S Signature has over the typical Model S Plaid:

  • Exclusive Exterior – Unique Garnet Red Paint, matching door handles, gold Tesla “T” badges upfront, gold Plaid and Signature badging at the rear.
  • Premium Interior – White Alcantara upholstery with gold piping/accents, gold Plaid seat badges, Signature-marked door sills, individually numbered dashboard plaque, gold puddle lights, special interior lighting sequence, and a custom Signature key fob.
  • Performance Upgrades – Carbon-ceramic brakes with gold calipers
  • Bundled Luxe Package – Full Self-Driving (Supervised), four years of Premium Connectivity, free lifetime Supercharging
  • Performance Metrics – ~1,020 horsepower, sub-2-second 0-60 MPH, ~390-mile range

Tesla quickly introduced a No Resale Agreement for the Signature Editions of the Model S and Model X, which would penalize the seller for “the amount of $50,000 or the value received as consideration for the sale or transfer, whichever is greater.”

The company continues:

“If you sell or otherwise transfer the ownership of your Model S or Model X, the remainder of the Recommended Maintenance, Wheel and Tire Protection Plan, and Windshield Protection Plan will transfer automatically to the buyer. The Full Self-Driving (Supervised), Free Supercharging and Premium Connectivity will not transfer with the vehicle and will terminate once the ownership of the Model S or Model X is transferred.”

Tesla will likely come after the seller, especially as it has been about two months since Tesla launched deliveries.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.5 Early Impressions: new features and early performance

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15 hours ago

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July 14, 2026

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Credit: TESLARATI

Tesla rolled out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.3.5 yesterday, and about fifty miles of driving on the new version has given me enough time to highlight what seems to be strong about the release and what is not.

Additionally, Tesla has added a few new features with this specific update, which we’ll highlight as well.

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.5 Performance

The new update is business as usual. Things seem to be running completely normal and necessary, but there are a few things that we’ve seemed to pick up on based on our own experience with v14.3.5, as well as what other users are seeing.

Initially, it seems to be more aware of its surroundings, making moves that are incredibly courteous to other drives and operating just a tad more reserved than what the suite might have done previously.

We had two instances where it showed this, the first being FSD needing to pass a Flagger Force vehicle that was placing down signage for the day. Their work truck was right at the front corner of a right-hand turn; typically where most cars travel when they take that turn.

FSD v14.3.5 recognized this, slowed down, and took the turn wide with no issues:

Additionally, v14.3.5 backed up for a semi truck that was making a wide turn onto a road my car was on. This is not new, but it seemed to be backing up for courtesy; it didn’t seem completely necessary, but it might have put some peace of mind in the truck driver’s head:

X user Mike P, also a Pennsylvania native like myself, shared three clips of his Tesla running v14.3.5 performing similar maneuvers. He said:

“FSD turns right into a small alley that only fits one car at a time, sees oncoming car, reverses out of alley to make space, realizes oncoming car is actually parking, re-enters alley.”
Check it out here:

It seems like Speed Profiles are still in need of some tweaking; I am adjusting what Speed Profile I’m in frequently, constantly changing it to get it to travel at the correct speed. This was an issue for me on v14.3.4. It seems like they’re just a little inconsistent.

Terrible Parking

Parking attempts on v14.3.5 were not good. There are quite a few people who have said this:

David Moss, the Tesla owner who has taken multiple coast-to-coast drives without any interventions, also has had some issues with parking early on with v14.3.5:

New Features

Tesla has added the ability to open Camera Preview at any time. Previously, it was only available in Park. Here’s what that feature looks like in action:

Check back later this week for a longer review of what we’ve noticed on Full Self-Driving v14.3.5.

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