Starship Flight 12 shows chopsticks opening

NASASpaceflight’s live coverage from Starbase on Thursday showed SpaceX’s tower “chopsticks” opening and tank farm activity building ahead of Starship Flight 12, offering a public view of ground operations before the company’s next test launch. (spacex.com) SpaceX has said the twelfth flight test is preparing to launch on May 21 from Starbase in South Texas. The company’s launch page says the 90-minute launch window opens at 5:30 p.m. Central Time. The stream clips circulating Thursday centered on hardware movement at the pad rather than the rocket leaving the ground. ### Why were people watching the chopsticks? (spacex.com) SpaceX uses the term “catch operations” for the launch tower arms that are widely known as the chopsticks, and those arms are part of the Starship ground system at Starbase. On Thursday, NASASpaceflight’s feed showed the arms opening during pad activity before Flight 12. The motion mattered because the tower and pad are part of the new launch setup SpaceX is introducing with this mission. SpaceX said on May 12 that Starship V3 and Super Heavy V3 will launch from “an entirely new launch pad” at Starbase. The company also said the Super Heavy V3 booster has new grid fins with a catch point to support lift and catch operations in future flights. (x.com) ### Was SpaceX planning a booster catch on this flight? SpaceX said Flight 12 will not attempt a return-to-launch-site catch. The company’s launch page says the booster’s planned sequence is launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn and landing burn to an offshore landing point in the Gulf of America. (x.com) SpaceX attributed that plan to the vehicle redesign. The company said Flight 12 is the first test of a “significantly redesigned vehicle,” and that the booster will therefore not attempt a tower catch on this mission. ### What else did the pad activity suggest? (spacex.com) Tank farm activity on a Starship test day typically points to propellant loading preparations, though SpaceX had not, in the material reviewed, separately described the specific ground step shown in the NASASpaceflight feed. The company’s countdown timeline says the Flight Director poll for propellant load begins about 50 minutes before liftoff. (spacex.com) SpaceX said the upcoming mission will debut next-generation Starship and Super Heavy vehicles powered by the latest Raptor evolution. The company also said the flight is meant to demonstrate redesigned elements of the Starship architecture in flight for the first time. (spacex.com) ### What is Flight 12 supposed to test once it leaves the pad? SpaceX said the Starship upper stage will try to deploy 20 Starlink simulators and two modified Starlink satellites on a suborbital trajectory. The company said the two modified satellites are meant to test hardware planned for Starlink V3 and attempt to scan Starship’s heat shield, sending imagery to operators. (x.com) SpaceX also said Flight 12 will test an in-space relight of a single Raptor engine. For reentry, the company said one heat shield tile has been intentionally removed to measure aerodynamic loads on adjacent tiles, while several other tiles were painted white to act as imaging targets. (spacex.com) ### Where can viewers follow the next step? SpaceX said its live webcast would begin about 45 minutes before liftoff on May 21, and the company directed viewers to its launch page and X account for updates. NASASpaceflight was also carrying live coverage from Starbase on Thursday as prelaunch operations continued at Boca Chica. (spacex.com)