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Reposted by Thomas Hayden

Harry Stranger @spacefromspace.com · 27/07/2026

A motion processed version of the capture showing them Starship and ship moving with the ocean.

Reposted by Thomas Hayden

Harry Stranger @spacefromspace.com · 27/07/2026

Following a request from my friends at @nasaspaceflight.com, we attempted to capture the splashed down SpaceX Starship in the Indian Ocean using Umbra satellites. We seem to have caught it and its recovery ship. 2026-07-27 03:56 UTC. spacefromspace.com/spaceport-im...

A black and white image with a rainbow smudge in the middle.

A black and white image with two rainbow smudges in the middle, being ships.

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Reposted by Thomas Hayden

Harry Stranger @spacefromspace.com · 11/04/2026

The damaged roof of Blue Origin's 2CAT facility can be seen in an UMBRA SAR satellite image taken on 2026-04-11 02:44:16 UTC. The second picture, from 2026-01-26, shows 2CAT from a different angle and an intact roof more than two months before the incident.

A black and white synthetic aperture radar satellite image of Blue Origin's 2CAT facility. The roof, usually a consistent texture, has an anomaly in the center, where it was damaged by a rupturing tank during testing.

A black and white synthetic aperture radar satellite image of Blue Origin's 2CAT facility. The roof has a consistent, normal texture.

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Starship will take a bit of time to ramp up, so Falcon 9 likely has a few more years of super high launch cadence. As for if this was a peak, we'll have to wait and see!

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

We'll be keeping track of progress through 2026, and if 2025 was any indication there will be tons of action each day on McGregor Live (2025 averaged ~4.6 tests per day!) Watch the tests live at nsf.live/mcgregor and I hope you have a great new year!

nsf.live

McGregor Live: 24/7 SpaceX Engine Testing & Development for Starship and Falcon 9 Rockets

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

McGregor has been testing Stage 2's at a rate where they could hit 185-190 in 2026! SpaceX hasn't shared a goal yet, but I suspect this is more than enough to meet it. It will be exciting to see what they end up going for.

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

As usual, MVac has a huge surplus. No big insights here, other than MVac production definitely not being a limiting factor (they did 192 full duration tests)

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Stage 2 rates are really interesting on a larger scale too. Hitting 168 wasn't a gradual change, but rather a single inflection point. Don't worry about the specific numbers here, just the general trend of the line. I'd love to know what they did to enable this higher pace.

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

In total they had 168 full duration Stage 2 tests, 34 more than last year. The goal was revised to 165, but it seems quite likely they would have reached the original 170 if they hadn't slowed down for the holidays.

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Goal beat! Not only did SpaceX meet their updated goal of 165 Falcon flights this year, they ended the year with a surplus of second stages at the McGregor test site! Lots of analysis and a 2026 prediction in thread ⬇️ Watch live: nsf.live/mcgregor @nasaspaceflight.com

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

Interesting Raptor explosion at McGregor tonight. Seemed to happen during startup - timing we've never seen before. As always this could be intentional (McGregor's the place they do tests to destruction), or just an unhappy raptor. @nasaspaceflight.com nsf.live/mcgregor

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

The OLM put up a bit of a fight tonight with a small fire inside the ring. Thankfully no one seems injured and crews were able to quickly extinguish it. They're already back at work cutting it up to make way for the new design! @nasaspaceflight.com nsf.live/starbase

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Importantly McGregor and Hawthorne have demonstrated this isn't just a burst rate, but something they can achieve for multiple months. Assuming weather and launch infrastructure cooperates it looks like they could comfortably aim for an extra dozen or so launches next year!

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

MVac testing seems to be going great as well. I'm not sure if these are all unique engines or not, but with an apparent surplus of 17 engines they're doing fine either way.

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

To help achieve this pace, they tested a new Stage 2 every weekday on not just one week, but two weeks! This was something we'd never seen before and they've now achieved it twice in one quarter. No doubt a big achievement for the teams, averaging a <24 hour cycle time

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

Looking at the Stage 2 surplus plot, SpaceX's pace this quarter has been closer to 185/year instead of 170! Whatever the bottleneck was seems to have been eliminated mid-April given the sudden change in direction. It would be super interesting to know what improvements were made

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

SpaceX has had an excellent quarter at McGregor, with a record 48 Falcon 9 second stages tested. How does this bode for their 170 flight goal this year? Short answer, quite well! Details in thread @nasaspaceflight.com nsf.live/mcgregor

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Reposted by Thomas Hayden

Garrett Reisman @astro-g-dogg.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

During a visit to NASA’s Johnson Space Center last March, I was confronted with an environment of fear, uncertainty and discrimination which struck me as a troubling moral issue that also raises serious safety concerns. Read all about it here: www.thespacereview.com/article/5060/1

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Five Falcon 9 Stage 2's in five days! Just 3 days, 22 hours, 26 minutes, and 31 seconds from the first to fifth test, highlighting what the McGregor teams are capable of. Typically they test one every two days. Watch live: nsf.live/mcgregor @nasaspaceflight.com

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Reposted by Thomas Hayden

Harry Stranger @spacefromspace.com · 23/07/2025

As part of an effort to gain better coverage of multiple launch pads under construction at Cape Canaveral, I've ordered a high resolution satellite image that covers many of the Space Coast launch pads and made it freely available to everyone to browse. Quick thread:

A screenshot showing the full satellite image over an OpenStreetMap basemap.

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

SpaceX had an extremely strong 2nd quarter, and if they can keep this pace up they should have enough 2nd stages to meet their goal of 170 Falcon flights. Following this pace, there will probably be a 2nd stage test today that can be seen live at nsf.live/mcgregor!

nsf.live

McGregor Live: 24/7 SpaceX Engine Testing & Development for Starship and Falcon 9 Rockets

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

MVac testing is another indicator since every 2nd stage needs one. As we've seen before, MVac production/testing is doing great with a surplus of 4 engines. Even if some engines have been fired multiple times, it's reasonable to assume 2nd stages aren't held up by MVacs.

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Interestingly, they've tested 78 2nd stages but flown 81 missions. Perhaps due to the slower start to the year this indicates they've cut a bit into their buffer of 2nd stages. We don't know how many they had "in stock" at the start of the year, but it must have been at least 3!

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

This year (blue) is ahead of where they were last year (red), though they're still 6 behind the "ideal" target. However, since early April they've been testing at a record pace! If they keep it up they will end the year with a surplus of 2nd stages!

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Can SpaceX reach 170 Falcon flights? McGregor tests every 2nd stage, so we can get a look at whether the production/test rate is on track to meet their goal. The short answer is they're on a solid trajectory - more analysis in thread! @nasaspaceflight.com nsf.live/mcgregor

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Reposted by Thomas Hayden

Garrett Reisman @astro-g-dogg.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

Unless these decisions are reversed, this will be remembered as a disastrous week for @NASA. First, I am not optimistic that whomever this administration nominates next for NASA Administrator will be nearly as qualified or enthusiastic about the agency’s mission as Jared. 1/

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

Basically they did the second longest test we've ever seen at McGregor, and by a decent margin as far as Raptor's concerned. What that means is up for discussion, but interesting to see

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

For some more stats on longest tests, Falcon 9's second stage holds third place with a 454 second test, while MVac sits in 11th place at 390 seconds. The Raptor Vertical stand's longest test puts it in 131st place

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 12/04/2025

New record! McGregor's Raptor Horizontal stand has beaten its record of 385 seconds with a test today lasting 460 seconds! This isn't a McGregor test record (that's held by Tripod's 897 second test) but it's a dominant second place. @nasaspaceflight.com nsf.live/mcgregor

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Lastly, while this testing data gives insight into their possible launch rate, we don't know what the specific difficulties are. It could be getting materials, production, testing, something else, or all of the above! Even if they don't hit 170 it's still a very impressive rate.

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

This certainly doesn't put them out of reach of their goal but it does show increasing this rate isn't easy. The rest of the year would need to have a rate of ~178/year to reach 170 total.

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

Stage 2 data is a bit rougher however. Mid January through late February had an excellent rate of testing, even exceeding 170/year. Despite this, three dips in testing rate has put the testing deficit at exactly the same point as last year. Again blue is 2025 and red is 2024

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

They've done about 6.5 more tests compared to this point last year, and are slightly above their target rate. Even if a test or two were reruns of the same engine they appear to have a steady testing flow at the target rate

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

25% through the year lets take a look at how McGregor testing is going for Falcon 9's goal of 170 launches! Starting with MVac, the data is looking great. This is their surplus compared to 170 tests per year. Blue is 2025, red is 2024 @nasaspaceflight.com nsf.live/mcgregor

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Reposted by Thomas Hayden

Tory Bruno @torybruno.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Vulcan has been certified for National Security Launch! Thankyou USSF for your trust. We are proud to serve the NSS mission. And, I am very proud of our team at ULA and all of our partners.

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Reposted by Thomas Hayden

NASASpaceflight.com @nasaspaceflight.com · 24/03/2025

Workers are tearing down the Starbase High Bay. A new LTM 11200 crane arises to bring down larger pieces as SpaceX makes way for the new, even larger, Gigabay, and two massive prefabricated power buildings are delivered on huge transporters. youtu.be/iEHs9Sgf_2M

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

A Raptor 2 giving us some fireworks today, but don't fret! This looks like it could be an intentional test to destruction, along with a few earlier in the year. Perhaps related to changes following Flights 7 and 8? nsf.live/mcgregor @nasaspaceflight.com

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

Moonrise behind the McGregor Raptor site nsf.live/mcgregor @nasaspaceflight.com

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Reposted by Thomas Hayden

Julia Bergeron @juliabergeronnsf.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Falcon 9 fleet leader B1067 has returned after it's record breaking 26th flight. Pretty soon we'll be celebrating 30! @nasaspaceflight.com live views of port and goings on at Cape: nsf.live/spacecoast

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Reposted by Thomas Hayden

Julia Bergeron @juliabergeronnsf.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Peekaboo, I see you Falcon

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Reposted by Thomas Hayden

NASASpaceflight.com @nasaspaceflight.com · 11/02/2025

Have you ever wondered what comes next when the ISS is retired? We have! NSF's Das was invited to have a look at VAST and their process of building new space stations tour their factory, see some hardware, and meet the folks who are creating the world’s first commercial station youtu.be/us_V_e0-NVs

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Reposted by Thomas Hayden

NASASpaceflight.com @nasaspaceflight.com · 10/02/2025

With its flight 8 partner completing a Static Fire Test, Starship S34 left the warmth of the Mega Bay, and headed into the foggy night to roll back to Masseys for its Static Fire Test, as pre-flight preparations continue. nsf.live/starbase

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Reposted by Thomas Hayden

NASASpaceflight.com @nasaspaceflight.com · 10/02/2025

Three days after arriving the launch site for some engine testing, and hours after a successful test. Starship B15 was removed from the Pad A Orbital Launch Mount. nsf.live/starbase

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Reposted by Thomas Hayden

NASASpaceflight.com @nasaspaceflight.com · 10/02/2025

The Flight 8 vehicles (B15 and S34) are well into their respective testing campaigns, the Pad B chopstick carriage reeving process is nearly complete, and we’ve spotted hardware being prepared for Starship’s first Starlink mission! To watch the full Starbase Update: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxIa...

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Reposted by Thomas Hayden

Tyler Gray @tylergray-nsf.bsky.social · 09/02/2025

Booster 15 has completed a static fire test of its Raptor engines. 🔥🔥🔥 📸 — Mary (BocaChicaGal) for NSF

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Aircraft carriers are HUGE! Here's an approximate visualization of a Starship stack on ex-John F. Kennedy as it entered the Port of Brownsville for scrapping. ~408ft vs ~1,106ft Apologies (or you're welcome) for the Ship 26 style stack @nasaspaceflight.com

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

Ship speed accelerated slower throughout the burn (likely due to the larger vehicle). Acceleration drops off as the anomaly begins, but it's not a sharp change like Flight 5's intentional shutdowns. Ultimately S33 ended up about 5,200km/h slower and about 4km lower than S30.

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

Moving to Ship 33, it took a more straightforward ascent compared to Ship 30. S33 continues upwards at a fairly consistent rate, while S30 hung around 144/145km for a while before continuing up.

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Thomas Hayden @thomashayden.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

Zooming in on the catch portion, you can see the steep deceleration from 13 engines, and then the shallower deceleration when they go down to 3. Visually the speed profiles are basically identical.

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