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Follow a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 booster recovery from start to finish [video]
All major aspects of SpaceX’s most recent Falcon 9 Block 5 booster recovery have been documented from start to finish, offering a solid glimpse into the work that actually goes into getting a rocket booster from the deck of a SpaceX drone ship to one of the company’s many hangars for inspections, repairs, and refurbishment.
Filmed by USLaunchReport, a SpaceX-focused nonprofit staffed by U.S. veterans, the group’s coverage of a variety of SpaceX events may not always offer the highest production quality, but the sheer tenacity and patience of those behind the cameras allow them to capture unique and interesting events that almost nobody else is keen to wait around for.
SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 booster sails into port aboard droneship OCISLY after successful reusehttps://t.co/zQtidwzvhp
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 21, 2018
Over the course of four videos focused on SpaceX’s recovery of Falcon 9 Block 5 booster B1047, USLaunchReport offered good views of four major events that occur during all rocket recovery operations: the drone ship’s return to port, Falcon 9’s move from ship to shore, the booster’s landing leg removal (or retraction), and the booster’s transfer from a vertical to horizontal orientation and transport by road back to a SpaceX hangar.
Of Course I Still Love You arrives at Port Canaveral
As with all of Falcon 9’s drone ship landings, B1047 came to a rest on a station-keeping OCISLY several hundred miles east of the Florida coast, coincidentally landing directly in front of a giant rainbow cued by rain clouds, both visible in the background. In theory, B1047’s second landing should by no means be the rocket’s last: if Falcon 9 Block 5’s first stage upgrades are as successful as they hoped to be, the rocket could well see a productive life of 100 launches or more between now and BFR’s complete takeover.
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- Falcon 9 B1047 approaches its second successful landing aboard OCISLY. (SpaceX)
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- In a more perfect world, Falcon 9 would have been responsible for the rainbow. (SpaceX)
For at least the next 5-10 years, however, SpaceX followers will continue to be treated to spectacular Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy booster recoveries, particularly the moment when each booster sails through the narrow mouth of Port Canaveral or Port of Los Angeles, offering spectators almost unbeatable views of just-landed SpaceX rockets.
SpaceX – Last Ten Miles To Dock.
Next Men at Work. B1047.2 https://t.co/6C4YDhUpJ6— Mike Wagner (@USLaunchReport) November 21, 2018
Falcon 9’s lift from ship to shore
Soon after the drone ship docks in port, SpaceX recovery technicians install a brace and lifting jig that attaches to Falcon 9’s booster interstage, using the same mechanisms that connect the first stage to the second stage prior to stage separation. The interstage’s mechanical actuators are strong enough to support – at a minimum – the entire weight of an empty Falcon 9 booster, allowing SpaceX to simply attach the jig and lift Falcon 9 off of the drone ship with any number of large but commercially available cranes.
Rather than directly lowering the rocket and allowing it to rest directly on its landing legs again, SpaceX technicians make use of a custom-built stand that acts as a sort of barebones, static replica of the mounts Falcon 9s are attached to at SpaceX launch pads. Structurally optimized to allow Falcon 9 and Heavy to be held down on the launch pad while operating at full thrust, a series of four solid-metal attachment points interface with those hold-down clamps, attach to Falcon 9’s four landing legs, and offer an easily accessible and structurally sound method of sitting a booster upright (sans legs) and maneuvering it during recovery operations.
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- An excellent look at Block 5 booster B1048’s aft, showing off two of four launch clamp attachment points. (Pauline Acalin)
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- A view of Falcon 9 resting on said clamp attach points. (Pauline Acalin)
Once Falcon 9 is sat stably atop its recovery stand, SpaceX technicians remove the rocket’s four landing legs and their associated telescoping deployment assemblies. While SpaceX has recently begun to attempt the in-situ retraction and stowage of Falcon 9 landing legs once returned to land, a number of experimental retraction attempts appear to have produced less than satisfactory results. This time around, the retraction jig was visibly stripped and SpaceX technicians did not attempt any leg retractions. However, those recovery technicians are now so experienced and familiar with the optimized procedures that Falcon 9 booster can go from port arrival to horizontal transport to a SpaceX hangar in just a little over 48 hours, and that trend continued with B1047.2.
Good observations by @USLaunchReport. The lifting cap was stripped of the leg retraction hardware, so SpaceX is presumably changing the design of the retraction system.https://t.co/WRwLNbLKqF
— Michael Baylor (@MichaelBaylor_) November 23, 2018
From | to __
Although Falcon 9 and Heavy rockets come into their prime once vertical, the rockets spend the vast majority of their lives horizontal, either in transport from facility to facility or stationary inside a SpaceX hangar, awaiting launch, undergoing integration, or being refurbished. Translating Falcon 9’s massive ~30-ton, 135-foot-tall (41m) booster from vertical to horizontal is a feat within itself, requiring the coordinated use of two large cranes, multiple technicians with guidelines, and one of several giant booster transport jigs owned by SpaceX.
SpaceX’s seasoned recovery technicians make it look easy, but the reality is in almost polar opposition. The fact that Falcon 9’s structure is built primarily of aluminum-lithium alloy tanks with walls maybe half a centimeter (~5 mm) thick certainly doesn’t make this process any easier, as even the slightest misstep or tank depressurization (Falcon 9 is almost always pressurized with nitrogen when horizontal) could structurally compromise the rocket and result in irreparable damage.
The cherry on top
A reliable crowdpleaser, the last critical step in any Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy recovery is the booster’s careful transport – by road – from its port of call (or landing zone) to a dedicated SpaceX hangar (or factory), where the rocket can be far more thoroughly inspected, repaired, and maintained between launches. With Falcon 9 Block 5’s May 2018 introduction, the latter segment has become more important than ever before, as the upgraded rockets are already routinely conducting launches with as few as three months between them, bringing SpaceX closer than ever before to realizing a long-term aspiration of operating a fleet of rapidly and (relatively) easily reusable orbital-class rockets.
Often slowly driving just a few dozen feet from passing bystanders and traffic, this short few-mile trip from Port Canaveral to either Kennedy Space Center (KSC) or Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) is typically done with Falcon 9 boosters entirely uncovered, aside from nine small booties that cover their nine Merlin 1D engines. Without unique and easily missed moments like this, it might well be just shy of impossible to get fewer than several hundred feet away from an operational SpaceX rocket, certainly a luxury but one that would still be sorely missed.
All things considered, the crew at USLaunchReport ought to be thanked for their relentless patience and commitment to getting the shot. For those of us who mean to resist the tendency for SpaceX’s sheer inertia to rapidly make the extraordinary all but mundane, these long, highly detailed, and often esoteric videos will (hopefully) never get old.
For prompt updates, on-the-ground perspectives, and unique glimpses of SpaceX’s rocket recovery fleet check out our brand new LaunchPad and LandingZone newsletters!
SpaceX is preparing for the 13th integrated flight test of its Starship system, with a targeted launch as early as Thursday, July 16. The 90-minute launch window opens at 5:45 p.m. CT from Starbase in South Texas.
This comes roughly seven weeks after Flight 12 on May 22, underscoring the company’s accelerating pace in its rapid development campaign. The mission will use the latest Starship and Super Heavy V3 vehicles equipped with Raptor 3 engines. Booster 20 will attempt a controlled boostback burn, followed by a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, while Ship 40 will follow a suborbital trajectory.
Starship’s thirteenth flight test is preparing to launch as early as Thursday, July 16 → https://t.co/Rp7VwBzpWx pic.twitter.com/jdpFlQUEpF
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 11, 2026
Key objectives for Flight 13 will include demonstrating reliable stage separation, engine performance under various conditions, and controlled reentry.
A major milestone for Flight 13 is the first deployment of 20 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites. These satellites feature advanced laser links for inter-satellite communication, deployable solar arrays, and onboard cameras, six of which will capture imagery of Starship’s heat shield during flight.
Several heat shield tiles on Ship 40 will be painted white to serve as imaging targets, while additional experiments test upgraded tiles on aft flaps, modified attachments on the aft skirt, and load-sensing tiles to measure stresses. The upper stage will also attempt a single Raptor engine relight in space before a targeted splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
These tests build directly on lessons from Flight 12, which introduced the V3 configuration but encountered issues including a booster flip anomaly during boostback and an engine-out event on the ship. Hardware and software modifications on Booster 20 and Ship 40 aim to improve engine relight reliability, startup sequencing, and overall robustness.
Next Starship launch aiming for Thursday https://t.co/SajPPd4pdb
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2026
The short interval between Flights 12 and 13 highlights SpaceX’s iterative approach. Elon Musk has repeatedly emphasized that Starship launches will become “incredibly common” in the coming years.
The company envisions scaling to rates as high as one launch per hour within 4-5 years, potentially enabling thousands of flights annually. Such cadence is essential for Starship’s goals: establishing orbital refueling for lunar and Mars missions, deploying massive satellite constellations, and making life multiplanetary.
With each flight, Starship edges closer to full reusability and operational maturity. Success on July 16 would mark another step toward routine access to space and the ambitious vision of humanity becoming a spacefaring civilization.
Tesla shared a striking video showcasing the decommissioning of the original Model S and Model X assembly line at its Fremont Factory in Northern California. Completed in just 46 days, the teardown involved heavy machinery dismantling concrete pits, removing robotic arms and conveyors, and clearing the space for new production.
The post, captioned “End of an era,” captured both the end of a historic chapter and Tesla’s aggressive pivot toward its next major initiative, Optimus.
End of an era: Decommissioning the original Model S & X assembly line in just 46 days pic.twitter.com/kGEdfhl62h
— Tesla Manufacturing (@gigafactories) July 10, 2026
The decision to retire the Model S and Model X originated during Tesla’s Q4 2025 Earnings Call in late January 2026. CEO Elon Musk announced that production of the company’s flagship sedan and SUV would wind down by the end of Q2 2026, describing it as bringing the programs to an “honorable discharge.”
Custom orders ceased around early April 2026, with the final vehicles rolling off the line in early May. A special signature delivery ceremony on May 20 marked the emotional close for these vehicles, which had defined Tesla’s early success and luxury EV segment since the Model S launch in 2012.
The primary reason for tearing down the lines was to repurpose the valuable factory floor space for high-volume production of Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot. Musk had indicated on Earnings Calls that the Fremont S/X line would be replaced by a dedicated Optimus manufacturing line targeting a capacity of one million units per year.
This move aligns with Tesla’s broader strategic shift from traditional vehicle manufacturing toward robotics and artificial intelligence, leveraging the company’s expertise in autonomy, AI training, and high-volume production.
Optimus, Tesla’s general-purpose humanoid robot, is designed to perform repetitive or dangerous tasks in factories, warehouses, and eventually homes. Powered by Tesla’s AI and Neural Networks, it aims to be a versatile, affordable platform. Production of Optimus Gen 3 is already underway in limited form at Fremont, with full-scale output on the converted line expected to begin in late July or August.
Tesla is targeting rapid scaling, with internal ambitions pointing toward tens or even hundreds of thousands of units annually by the end of 2026.
Longer-term, Tesla is constructing a much larger second-generation Optimus facility at Giga Texas, with potential capacity reaching millions of units per year. The company views Optimus as a transformative product that could eventually surpass its automotive business in scale and value, enabling widespread deployment of useful robots across industries. CEO Elon Musk has even predicted it would be the most popular product of all-time.
As one era closes at Fremont, another is rapidly taking shape.
Elon Musk posted a candid admission on his social media platform X on June 9, declaring that he had been “clearly wrong” about Anthropic. The statement marked a notable reversal from his earlier skepticism toward the AI company.
In September, Musk had written, “Winning was never in the set of possible outcomes for Anthropic,” reflecting his view at the time that the startup had lacked the foundation or even the trajectory to succeed in what is an incredibly intense race for advanced artificial intelligence.
Musk’s latest post came amid discussion of Anthropic’s reliance on external compute resources. He praised the company’s progress, stating that Anthropic is “obviously currently the leader in AI” and that “no company has released a model as good as Mythos/Fable,” with expectations of a strong follow-up in Mythos 2.
The tone shifted dramatically from dismissal to acknowledgement of superior performance.
I was clearly wrong about Anthropic. They are obviously currently the leader in AI. No company has released a model as good as Mythos/Fable and they will undoubtedly have Mythos 2 ready soon.
And I would never cut them off in a way that hurt them badly, even as a competitor.…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2026
The context of Musk’s comments added significance. Anthropic has been operating under a recent compute deal with SpaceXAI, Musk’s AI infrastructure-focused venture. The pair entered a short-term GPU lease agreement initiated in May, providing Anthropic access to critical computing power for training and deploying its frontier models.
SpaceXAI signs agreement with Anthropic for massive AI supercomputer access
Some observers had speculated that Musk could leverage this dependency to disadvantage a rival. Musk directly addressed the possibility, writing, “I would never cut them off in a way that hurt them badly, even as a competitor. That’s not my style.”
To support his commitment to ethical competition, Musk referenced concrete examples from his other companies. Tesla famously open-sourced its entire portfolio of electric vehicle patents in 2014. The move was designed to accelerate the global adoption of sustainable transportation technology rather than protect proprietary advantages.
Tesla also made its Supercharger network available to competing electric vehicle manufacturers, transforming what could have remained an exclusive charging ecosystem into a shared infrastructure that benefits the broader industry and reduces barriers for EV adoption.
Musk further pointed to SpaceX’s practices, noting that the company launches satellites for competing commercial systems “with no increase in price or use of unfair terms.” He extended the principle to his social platform, observing that “even my worst enemies attack me on this platform,” underscoring preference for open discourse over retaliation.
These examples have illustrated Musk’s long-standing philosophy that long-term technological progress is best served by open competition and infrastructure sharing rather than leveraging market power to stifle rivals. In the fast-evolving AI sector, where compute resources and model capabilities determine leadership, Musk’s stance suggests a willingness to compete on innovation and performance alone.
Musk’s admission arrives as SpaceXAI itself advances its own frontier models while maintaining business relationships across the ecosystem. By publicly correcting his earlier assessment and reaffirming principles of fair play, Musk highlights a model of competition that prioritizes advancement of the field over short-term tactical advantages.
SpaceX reveals Starship Flight 13 launch date
Tesla shows rapid teardown of Model S and X lines, paving the way for Optimus at Fremont
