Ship 36 (S36)

Ship 36 During Explosion at Massey's Outpost — Ship 36 (S36) during a RUD (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly) during proppelant loading on June 19

Ship 36 (S36) was the fourth Block 2 Starship second stage prototype, which experienced a RUD (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly) just before its second static fire attempt. Stacking commenced on January 30th 2025, with S36 being the first vehicle to undergo Payload Bay and Nosecone stacking inside Starfactory, which was previously done in High Bay and was completed on March 12th, 2025 in a total of 41 days.

Furthermore S36 was the first Ship to be built with catch hardware (rather than having it retrofitted either non-structurally such as in the case of S33/S34 or structurally on S35) and notably S36's sections (other than its Nosecone) have been stacked largely untiled, potentially indicating that S36 will feature a new heatshield design however given the lack of re-entry data gathered on Starship flights 7-9 this may no longer be the case.

After Flight 9, S36 was planned to do another suborbital flight profile like its predecessors. The recent flight gives a shadow of Ship V1 development program where Flight 3 failed to achieve nominal relight and re-entry, disintegrated during re-entry. Ship 36 was planned to be the first fully successful ship to do payload deployment, raptor relight, re-entry and splashdown in Indian Ocean, repeating ship V1 development pattern.

S36 was destroyed in a static fire, likely because a a nitrogen COPV in the payload bay failed below its proof pressure near the CH4 tank, causing the tank rupture.

History[]

The current Ship 36 was first spotted on the 25th of September 2024 with its LOX Header Tank. However Ship 33's Nosecone was previously assigned to S36 prior to re-ordering of the ship line up for Block 2s to start with S33 rather than 36. However S36 also had a third (Block 1) Nosecone assigned to it scrapped on the 7th of June 2023 as part of the The Nosecone Exodus.

S36 began receiving tiles on the 15th of December 2024 and both its forward flaps were installed by January 19th 2025. Stacking commenced inside Starfactory of S36's Payload Bay and Nosecone sections on the 30th of January 2025. The Payload Bay + Nosecone Stack was then moved into Mega Bay 2 for pez dispenser installation and to continue stacking on the 12th of February 2025. On the 18th of February, FX:4 was moved into Mega Bay 2. Ship 36's common dome section(CX:3) was stacked with S36 N:7 on the 24th-25th of February 2025, creating N:10.

250426-S36-TPS-StarshipGazer-X — S36 in Mega Bay 2 with TPS tiles installed. c Starship Gazer 26 Apr 2025

Stacking of S36, was completed on March 12th, 2025 in a total of 41 days. As of 26 April 2025, most of the TPS tiles have been installed. Significant gap filler could be observed between all tiles, covering the secondary ablative material.^[1] As noted by Redstone on LabPadre discord, "noteworthy is the addition of tapered edge tiles along the whole length of the vehicle, instead of just a handful towards the FWD end like on Ship 34"^[2].

On June 18th, 2025, S36 exploded during propellant loading for a static fire test at 11:02:52 PM CDT.

Timeline[]

Click to view the pre-stacking timeline:

6 June 2023: NC39 (Original V1 Nosecone for S36) leaves Tent 3.
7 June 2023: NC39 (Original V1 Nosecone for S36) is scrapped.
6 Jan 2024: NC42 (New Block 2 Nosecone for S36) base/aft half spotted in Starfactory phase 4.
13 May 2024: Block 2 left forward flap delivered to Starbase presumably for S36
14 July 2024: Signage confirms that NC42 has been re-assigned to S33
25 September 2024: LOX Header Tank spotted likely for S36. This is the first component of the new Block 2 S36 to be spotted
15 December 2024: First tiles spotted installed on S36
5 Jan 2025: S36 NC spotted with forward flap aero covers
19 Jan: S36 NC now has both forward flaps

Click to view stacking timeline:

30 Jan: S36 NC spotted stacked on PL:3, creating N:3.
7 Feb: S36 PEZ moved into MB2
12 Feb: S36 N:3 moved into MB2 from SFC and lifted on top of its PEZ dispenser
18 Feb: S36 FX:4 moved into MB2
24-25 Feb: S36 N:7 stacked upon CX:3 creating N:10
27 Feb: S36 A2:3 moved into MB2, then, N:10 stacked upon A2:3 creating N:13
4 Mar: S36 A3:4 moved into MB2 and stacked creating N:17
6 Mar: S36 transfer tubes installed in S36
11 Mar: S36 AX:4 moved into MB2
12 Mar: S36 N:17 stacked on AX:4 completing S36 stacking in 41 days

Click to view post-stacking timeline:

18 Mar: S36 lifted off the turntable and placed on the centre back workstand
26 Apr: S36 lifted onto thrust simulator
26 Apr: S36 moved to Massey Outpost
27 Apr: S36 Full Cryo
28 Apr: S36 rolled back to build site
29 May: S36 first aft flap installed
4 June: S36 second aft flap installed
15 Jun: S36 rolled to Massey’s after being lifted on static fire stand
16 Jun: Single engine SF
18 Jun: S36 experiences a RUD during a static fire

Testing Campaign[]

Overview, without full stack tests:

Date	Test type	Outcome	Details
27 April 2025	Cryogenic proof test	Success	Ship 36 conducted a full cryogenic proof test of both tanks with at least two cycles through tanking, holding and detanking
16 June 2025	Static fire test	Success	Ship 36 conducted a successfuly single engine static fire test
18 June 2025	Static fire test	Failure	Ship 36 exploded during propellant load.

27 April 2025 - Cryogenic proof[]

S36 cryo — Ship 36 during cryo test on April 27 c NASASpaceflight

S36 made a cryogenic proof test

[Add timeline, and more information if possible]

16 June 2025 - Single engine static fire[]

Images (1) — Ship 36 during single engine static fire testing on June 16th

Ship 36 performed a single-engine static fire test to prepare for the planned in-space raptor re-light demo.

The test started at around 1:49:35 PM CDT and ended at around 1:49:40 PM CDT, lasting around 5-8 seconds.

There is no known anomaly at the time.

18 June 2025 - Full static fire attempt[]

500624817 1176557194504162 6517079898372911752 n — Ship 36 attempting a full engine static fire test.

Ship 36 experienced a RUD (Rapid Unscheduled Dissasembly) on June 18th before attempting a 6-engine static fire test.

The RUD happened at 11:01:52 PM CDT and the remaining fire went on for the rest of the night.

The FAA isn't required to trigger an investigation, since this is a ground anomaly, and not an in-flight anomaly. According to SpaceX, a nitrogen COPV failed below its proof pressure, causing the methane tank to rupture.^[3]{{ This resulted in an explosion that damaged the methane farms, test stands, etc. Necessary repairs temporarily stopped Ship's ground testing. During S36 recovery operations at the site, a crane tipped over on 24 June (source with video^[4]), causing an investigation by OSHA. This was reported by CNBC on 27 June 2025.^[5] First new tank farm activity after the explosion of Ship 36 was noted on 27 June 2025 with vapors appearing near B18.1.^[6] Pictures of the damage to the site can be found here.