YazataOct 7, 2026 04:44 AM (This post was last modified: Oct 7, 2026 04:50 AM by Yazata.)
Forte is expected to bring S40 into the Port of Brownsville some time between 6 am and 9 am central time Wednesday morning, depending on how quickly they can get a pilot aboard to bring it into port.
YazataOct 11, 2026 09:07 PM (This post was last modified: Oct 12, 2026 04:15 AM by Yazata.)
Last night Ship 40 rolled from the Port of Brownsville back to Starbase Production where it was born, completing the circle. Along the way it passed many of the new SpaceX developments in the area. As it passed the new housing development at Rio West, hundreds of SpaceX workers turned out (at 2 am in the morning). Music was playing, people were dancing and the scene was kind of moving.
Leaving the Port. It's being pulled by a giant Oshkosh M1070, a military tractor unit designed to pull very heavy loads. The space nuts call this SpaceX one the Apocalypse Truck, because it looks like something out of Mad Max.
40's engines are a little worse for wear... people are commenting on the fact that the throats of the engines, between the combustion chamber and nozzle, appear to be sealed with some white material. That's not to protect the engines, which appear to be goners after weeks adrift in salt-water, but rather to prevent anyone from looking in and seeing the injectors, which are one of the most ITAR sensitive aspects of a rocket engine.