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SpaceX installs Starship Mk1 rocket’s flaps for the second time in build-up to flight debut
A little over a month after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk presented an update on Starship in Boca Chica, Texas and technicians dressed the rocket up for the show, SpaceX has begun to install Starship Mk1’s flaps for the second time.
This time, with any luck, those flaps are here to stay until Starship Mk1’s inaugural launch debut, an ambitious flight test with a target altitude of 20 km (12 mi).
Around the second half of September, SpaceX technicians appeared to begin working around the clock to fully assemble Starship, outfitting the exterior with the beginnings of plumbing, power lines, and avionics harnesses, stacking the Mk1 prototype’s two halves, and installing the vehicle’s large fore and aft flaps. During SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s September 28th Starship update, what looked to be the largely finished Starship Mk1 served as the main backdrop – an undeniably impressive one, at that.
As would soon become clear, SpaceX’s September 2019 Starship Mk1 integration was actually more of a mock-assembly – all the parts involved appear to genuinely be real flight hardware, but almost all of it was only temporarily attached to Starship to give the partial appearance of a finished ship. By October 1st, technicians began removing Starship Mk1’s four flaps, flap shrouds, and leg shrouds, finally culminating in the separation of the rocket prototype’s upper and lower halves.
The fact that neither Musk or SpaceX spokespersons noted that Starship wasn’t actually complete is at least a little unsavory, although it’s admittedly unsurprising given CEO Elon Musk’s known affinity for grand gestures and events. On a positive note, Starship’s mock-assembly likely served as an excellent learning experience for the Boca Chica team and thankfully only seems to have caused a week or two of delay.
Rapid progress in Boca Chica
Despite the mild disruption of dressing Starship Mk1 up for Musk’s presentation, SpaceX Boca Chica has made a huge amount of progress in the five weeks since. Barely three weeks after the rocket’s forward flaps (canards) were removed, SpaceX technicians began the reinstallation process with one major visible difference: a massive motorcycle-sized actuator.
On the first round of installations-for-show, Starship Mk1’s flaps featured no such mechanism, confirming suspicions that much of the hardware installed at the last second was not quite finished or was only being installed for Musk (and practice). The appearance of a previously unseen actuator mechanism on the first reinstalled canard suggests that this time around, SpaceX is installing Starship’s flaps with their final purpose of controlling Starship’s free-fall in mind.
Instead of copying Falcon 9’s proven method of vertical launch and vertical landing, SpaceX is taking a more radical approach with Starship that will see the spacecraft reenter Earth’s atmosphere belly-first, slow its forward speed to near-zero, and fall directly down for approximately 25 km (15.5 mi), using its flaps like a skydiver’s limbs. Perhaps just a few hundred meters above the ground, Starship will finally perform an aggressive flip maneuver, igniting its Raptors while sideways, swerving to neutralize that horizontal velocity, and finally landing on six small legs.
In this sense, although they certainly look the part, Starship’s aerodynamic control surfaces are very explicitly not wings and are instead meant to interact with the atmosphere at an almost 90-degree angle of attack (AoA). In line with that strategy, they only have to actuate with a single degree of freedom, drastically simplifying Starship’s control surfaces.
Similar to Starship Mk1’s newly filled-out canard actuators, SpaceX technicians have installed two massive hinges/mounts for Starship’s larger after flaps. Aft flap installation will likely start as soon as SpaceX technicians have installed the bulk of Starship Mk1’s external plumbing and wiring, a milestone that appears to be fast approaching.
Starship Mk1’s lower half was unexpectedly moved about a mile to SpaceX’s nearby launch facilities prior to the installation of its nose section, meaning that SpaceX will likely have to transport the nose to the launch pad for final mating. It’s unclear what tests SpaceX specifically plans to kick off Starship Mk1’s pre-flight preparations with, but it’s safe to assume that the most imminent milestone is a wet dress rehearsal (WDR), possibly preceded by a tank proof test.
The latter procedure would be designed to prove that Starship Mk1’s pressure vessel is both leakproof and structurally sound and would nominally involve filling the spacecraft’s tanks with a neutral fluid (likely water or liquid nitrogen). A WDR would see SpaceX load Starship as if preparing for launch (requiring liquid oxygen, methane, nitrogen, and helium) but stopping just prior to the engine ignition and liftoff that would otherwise follow. Although unlikely, a WDR could result in a massive fire or explosion if Starship were to lose structural integrity during the test, which is why the aforementioned neutral testing is typically performed first when handling brand new launch vehicles.
Finally, assuming Starship Mk1 successfully passes the above tests, SpaceX will use the vehicle to perform Raptor’s first triple-engine static fire test. That static fire will likely be the final major test activity before SpaceX readies Starship Mk1 for its 20-km flight debut, which will serve as a more or less full-fidelity test of Starship’s exotic skydiver-like landing.
Regardless of how exactly Starship Mk1’s imminent test campaign will play out, SpaceX has road closures scheduled on November 7th, 8th, and 12th. Right now, it’s anyone’s guess what is planned for Thursday and Friday, but it could potentially involve a tank proof test, launch pad checkouts, propellant loading, or something more benign, like transporting Starship’s nose section to the pad for final installation. Stay tuned!
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Ferrari unveiled its Luce EV over the weekend, and so far, its reception has been an absolute disaster, gathering negative reactions from a wide variety of people, including former executives.
The stock even took a hit on its first day of trading following the unveiling, dropping over 7 percent at one point.
Ferrari moving to EVs from its traditional V12s and mid-engine sports cars is a massive move. It was designed by Sir Jony Ive and Marc Newsom’s LoveFrom studio, which is known for design work for tech giant Apple. “Luce” means “light” in Italian, so Ferrari drew inspiration for its name from its sleek design, characterized by a smooth, sculpted body with rounded edges.
But its reception has been far from what Ferrari expected. The overall design has drawn some harsh criticism since its reveal, and it is simply stunning that such a storied company, with a rich history of beautiful, powerful cars has revealed a design that many are not a fan of.
Ferrari unveiled its all-electric Luce over the weekend, and it has truly gotten some attention…not for the right reasons.
From an Italian legend that has built some beautiful cars in its history, this almost feels like a ploy to inevitably cancel its electric program. pic.twitter.com/rczSSb3pJx
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) May 26, 2026
Responses to the design were widely negative, with some saying, “Enzo is rolling in his grave,” and “This looks like a Nissan LEAF with a bad body kit.”
Former Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo said:
“If I said what I really think, I’d harm Ferrari. We’re risking the destruction of a myth, I’m very sorry about that. I hope they at least remove the Prancing Horse from that car.”
🚨 Luca di Montezemolo former Ferrari chairman reacts to the new electric Ferrari Luce:
“I’ve seen the project has already been delayed more than two years. I don’t like commenting from the stands—when I was in the game, it annoyed me when people did that. I think for now the… https://t.co/TzIDxFzHso
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) May 26, 2026
Ferrari has scaled back EV commitments in the past, primarily in response to weaker-than-expected demand for its electric powertrains.
Priced at roughly $640,000 in the U.S., it is tough to see how this car will ever truly live up to the massive expectations many had for it. It almost feels like, to a certain extent, Ferrari is looking for a way to get out of building EVs.
Tesla unveiled a juicy new detail on the Roadster, its long-delayed supercar project, and additionally hinted at a new unveiling timeline, as it appears yet another month will pass without seeing the capabilities of the vehicle.
Vice President of Vehicle Engineering at Tesla, Lars Moravy, revealed on the Ride the Lightning podcast that the Roadster will be built at Gigafactory Texas, adding that “you’ll start to see a lot of things unfold in the next months.”
While we get a good detail on the plant of manufacture, we also get another letdown, as it appears the unveiling event will not take place in May, as CEO Elon Musk hinted during the Earnings Call.
Franz von Holzhausen revealed in the Ride the Lightning podcast that the Tesla Roadster will be built at Gigafactory Texas https://t.co/t9Bu9k824Q pic.twitter.com/TT01IWJaFD
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) May 24, 2026
The Roadster was first unveiled back in 2017, alongside the Semi, which entered production earlier this year. It was Tesla’s attempt at a true supercar; it would be rare, expensive, and lightning quick, among other incredible capabilities, like potentially hovering for a short period thanks to a collaboration project with SpaceX.
However, the vehicle was set to be delivered in 2020. Parts and supply chain issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic started these delays, and since then, Tesla, and specifically Musk, have wanted to push the capabilities of the Roadster to somewhere the human mind may not be able to currently comprehend.
Both Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen and Moravy have said many things about the Roadster over the past few years, hinting that the car truly could be worth the wait. However, the continuous delays we’ve seen have undoubtedly been discouraging.
With that being said, it’s not like Tesla has been doing nothing. Instead, the company has been focusing on revamping current models, phasing out others, and working on developing the cars of the future, specifically, the Cybercab, which entered production at Giga Texas in April.
Despite the Roadster’s delays, there is still a ton of anticipation for the vehicle to be released. It will have a steering wheel, as Musk said it will be “the best of the last of the human-driven cars.”
NASA has filed a procurement notice announcing its intent to add six post-certification missions to SpaceX’s existing Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract. The agency said it would order up to three of those missions immediately upon adding them to the contract, with the remaining three available as needed through the end of the International Space Station’s planned operations in 2030.
The reason for the expansion is straightforward. NASA cited recently shortened ISS mission durations, technical issues and schedule delays encountered by Boeing, the allocation of missions between Boeing and SpaceX, and the ongoing technical challenges of maintaining a reliable crew transportation capability as the driving factors behind the decision. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner has still not been certified for crewed flights, and a cargo-only Starliner mission was not included on NASA’s most recent mission manifest. With Boeing effectively sidelined for the foreseeable future, SpaceX is the only American company capable of rotating crews to the station.
The history behind this contract tells the fuller story of how SpaceX got here. NASA originally awarded SpaceX its Commercial Crew contract in 2014 for $2.6 billion. In 2022 NASA modified the contract to add five missions covering Crew-10 through Crew-14, worth $1.436 billion, bringing the total contract value at that point to $4.9 billion. The recent May 18 filing by NASA extends that runway further, with Crew-12 currently docked at the station and Crew-13 assigned and targeting a mid-September 2026 launch.
According to a report by SpaceNews, NASA stated in its filing: “It is necessary to award additional PCMs to SpaceX given the recently shortened ISS mission durations, technical issues and schedule delays encountered by Boeing, the allocation of missions between Boeing and SpaceX, NASA’s projections for when an alternative crew transportation system may become available, and the ongoing technical challenges of maintaining a reliable capability for crewed flights to ISS.”
No dollar value for the new six missions has been publicly confirmed yet, but based on the 2022 precedent of roughly $287 million per mission, the new block could represent close to $1.7 billion in additional contract value. With SpaceX simultaneously preparing Starship as NASA’s Artemis lunar lander, filing its S-1 for a June IPO, and now absorbing more ISS crew rotation work, the company’s role as the primary contractor for American human spaceflight is no longer a matter of circumstance. It is NASA policy.
Ferrari unveils its Luce EV, and its reception has been a disaster
Tesla unveils juicy new detail on the Roadster and hints at new unveil timeline
