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SpaceX continues rocket fleet shuffle as Falcon 9 arrives for next CA launch

A rare view of Falcon 9 upper stage transport (left) and first stage delivery (right). (Instagram: @keeplookingup247)

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Strengthening the odds that SpaceX’s first Block 5 rocket will soon become the first Falcon 9 to launch three times, a SpaceX booster arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) on 10/25 ahead of Spaceflight Industry’s SSO-A rideshare mission, scheduled for launch no earlier than November 19th.

Notably, a flurry of spottings posted on social media offers a unique glimpse into the major logistical infrastructure SpaceX has built up over years of transporting massive Falcon rockets across the continental US.

Barely 24 hours after SpaceX successfully launched SAOCOM 1A, a Falcon 9 upper stage was seen traveling north just a few miles away from Vandenberg, wasting no time at all to fill the momentarily empty SLC-4 integration hangar. Two weeks after the second stage arrived, a Falcon 9 booster was spotted heading through Santa Maria towards VAFB, approximately on schedule for SSO-A’s targeted Nov 19 launch date.

Traveling from Hawthorne, CA, the identity of this particular booster is especially ambiguous. Due to a lack of on-base space at SpaceX’s Vandenberg facilities, there simply isn’t enough room for multiple boosters to be worked on in the SLC-4 hangar, meaning that the arrival of one rocket necessitates the departure of another. After landing for the first time at SpaceX’s West Coast LZ-4, Falcon 9 B1048 seems to have remained at the launch pad (assuming it didn’t manage to depart without being spotted). As such, the arrival of a booster on Oct 25 is firm evidence that B1048 is either not going to launch SSO-A or was refurbished at SpaceX’s Hawthorne factory a few hundred miles south of VAFB.

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Neither outcome would be shocking: to be ready in time to launch SSO-A, B1048 would have had barely five weeks to go from landing at LZ-4 after its second flight to being ready for the rocket’s third flight. According to COO and President Gwynne Shotwell, Falcon 9 Block 5 boosters have apparently lowered the amount of time needed for post-launch refurbishment to four weeks – presumably the minimum value for the time being. On the opposite coast, the first Falcon 9 Block 5 booster to be built and launched – B1046 – completed its second successful mission on August 7, leaving a comparatively luxurious three months for refurbishment and flight readiness review.

Whether B1046 or B1048 rolls out of SpaceX’s Vandenberg hangar next month, the fact that a Falcon 9 booster was deemed ready for its third launch at all will be a huge achievement for the company and its ultimate goal of realizing aircraft-like reusability for orbital-class rockets.

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SpaceX’s Vandenberg launch complex (SLC-4) and Falcon 9 B1048.2, October 6. (Eric Ralph)

It’s raining rockets!

Including the Falcon 9 booster that arrived at Vandenberg late last week, the sheer number of SpaceX rockets photographed mid-transport in the last week alone is – from a public perspective – quite possibly a record. The same night as that mystery booster arrived at SpaceX’s West Coast launch site, SpaceX announced that it had completed a static fire of Falcon 9 B1051 – assigned to Crew Dragon’s uncrewed launch debut – in McGregor, Texas. On October 28, a SpaceX fan observed a separate Falcon 9 booster heading east through Arizona, either a new booster being shipped from Hawthorne to Texas or B1048 on its way to Texas or Florida for refurbishment and launch #3.

A Falcon 9 booster was spotted east of McGregor on Oct 30, headed to Florida. (Instagram @ldm9132)

Finally, yet another Falcon 9 was spotted eastbound a few miles east of SpaceX’s McGregor rocket test facilities on October 30. While most likely the same booster spotted in Arizona on the 28th, the restless pace of SpaceX’s cross-country hardware transport almost defies the tracking abilities of those watching from the outside.


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!

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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Elon Musk shares updated Starship V3 maiden launch target date

The comment was posted on Musk’s official account on social media platform X.

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Credit: SpaceX/X

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shared a brief Starship V3 update in a post on social media platform X, stating the next launch attempt of the spacecraft could take place in about four weeks.

The comment was posted on Musk’s official account on social media platform X.

Musk’s update suggests that Starship Flight 12 could target a launch around early April, though the schedule will depend on several remaining milestones at SpaceX’s Starbase launch facility in Texas.

Among the key steps is testing and certification of the site’s new launch tower, launch mount, and tank farm systems. These upgrades will support the next generation of Starship vehicles.

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Booster 19 is expected to roll to the launch site and be placed on the launch mount before returning to the production facility to receive its 33 Raptor engines. The booster would then return for a static fire test, which could mark the first time a Super Heavy booster equipped with Raptor V3 engines is fired on the pad.

Ship 39 is expected to undergo a similar preparation process. The vehicle will likely return to the production site to receive its six engines before heading to Massey’s test site for static fire testing.

Once both stages are prepared, the booster and ship will roll out to the launch site for the first full stack of a V3 Super Heavy and V3 Starship. A full wet dress rehearsal is expected to follow before any launch attempt.

Elon Musk has previously shared how SpaceX plans to eventually recover Starship’s upper stage using the launch tower’s robotic arms. Musk noted that the company will only attempt to catch the Starship spacecraft after two successful soft landings in the ocean. The approach is intended to reduce risk before attempting a recovery over land.

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“Should note that SpaceX will only try to catch the ship with the tower after two perfect soft landings in the ocean. The risk of the ship breaking up over land needs to be very low,” Musk wrote in a post on X.

Such a milestone would represent a major step toward the full reuse of the Starship system, which remains a central goal for SpaceX’s long-term launch strategy.

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SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell details xAI power pledge at White House event

The commitment was announced during an event with United States President Donald Trump.

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Credit: xAI

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell stated that xAI will develop 1.2 gigawatts of power at its Memphis-area AI supercomputer site as part of the White House’s new “Ratepayer Protection Pledge.” 

The commitment was announced during an event with United States President Donald Trump.

During the White House event, Shotwell stated that xAI’s AI data center near Memphis would include a major energy installation designed to support the facility’s power needs.

“As you know, xAI builds huge supercomputers and data centers and we build them fast. Currently, we’re building one on the Tennessee-Mississippi state line. As part of today’s commitment, we will take extensive additional steps to continue to reduce the costs of electricity for our neighbors… 

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“xAI will therefore commit to develop 1.2 GW of power as our supercomputer’s primary power source. That will be for every additional data center as well. We will expand what is already the largest global Megapack power installation in the world,” Shotwell said.

She added that the system would provide significant backup power capacity.

“The installation will provide enough backup power to power the city of Memphis, and more than sufficient energy to power the town of Southaven, Mississippi where the data center resides. We will build new substations and invest in electrical infrastructure to provide stability to the area’s grid.”

Shotwell also noted that xAI will be supporting the area’s water supply as well. 

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“We haven’t talked about it yet, but this is actually quite important. We will build state-of-the-art water recycling plants that will protect approximately 4.7 billion gallons of water from the Memphis aquifer each year. And we will employ thousands of American workers from around the city of Memphis on both sides of the TN-MS border,” she noted. 

The Ratepayer Protection Pledge was introduced as part of the federal government’s effort to address concerns about rising electricity costs tied to large AI data centers, as noted in an Insider report. Under the agreement, companies developing major AI infrastructure projects committed to covering their own power generation needs and avoiding additional costs for local ratepayers.

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SpaceX to launch Starlink V2 satellites on Starship starting 2027

The update was shared by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and Starlink Vice President Mike Nicolls.

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Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX is looking to start launching its next-generation Starlink V2 satellites in mid-2027 using Starship.

The update was shared by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and Starlink Vice President Mike Nicolls during remarks at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain.

“With Starship, we’ll be able to deploy the constellation very quickly,” Nicolls stated. “Our goal is to deploy a constellation capable of providing global and contiguous coverage within six months, and that’s roughly 1,200 satellites.”

Nicolls added that once Starship is operational, it will be capable of launching approximately 50 of the larger, more powerful Starlink satellites at a time, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.

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The initial deployment of roughly 1,200 next-generation satellites is intended to establish global and contiguous coverage. After that phase, SpaceX plans to continue expanding the system to reach “truly global coverage, including the polar regions,” Nicolls said.

Currently, all Starlink satellites are launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. The next-generation fleet will rely on Starship, which remains in development following a series of test flights in 2025. SpaceX is targeting its next Starship test flight, featuring an upgraded version of the rocket, as soon as this month.

Starlink is currently the largest satellite network in orbit, with nearly 10,000 satellites deployed. Bloomberg Intelligence estimates the business could generate approximately $9 billion in revenue for SpaceX in 2026.

Nicolls also confirmed that SpaceX is rebranding its direct-to-cell service as Starlink Mobile.

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The service currently operates with 650 satellites capable of connecting directly to smartphones and has approximately 10 million monthly active users. SpaceX expects that figure to exceed 25 million monthly active users by the end of 2026.

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