SpaceX moved Super Heavy Booster 22 from the Starbase production site to Launch Pad 2 overnight from October 23 into October 24, kicking off the static fire campaign for Starship Flight 15.
What happened
NASASpaceflight flagged the move on October 23, noting a road delay notice for the production-to-pad transport between 11:59 PM and 4:00 AM CDT and saying a static fire could come as soon as this weekend. By Saturday morning, NSF photographers reported the booster had reached Pad 2 after the overnight rollout, with static fire testing expected in the coming days. A temporary flight restriction for “high energy testing” at the Starbase launch site starting October 23 had also been published earlier in the week.
Why it matters
A static fire, where the booster lights its Raptor engines while held down on the pad, is one of the last major ground tests before a launch. NASASpaceflight reported last week that Booster 22 had all of its engines installed and that both it and Ship 42 needed to complete static fires to meet Flight 15’s current no-earlier-than date of November 8.
Flight 15 is a big one: Elon Musk has said SpaceX will try to catch both the Super Heavy booster and the Ship with the launch tower’s arms, which would be the first full recovery attempt of a Starship vehicle. Flight 16, likely using Booster 23 and Ship 43, is aimed at December and could be the first Starship launch from Launch Complex 39A in Florida.
Source: NASASpaceflight on X, with background from NASASpaceflight.com.