The booster 7 is preparing for additional static fires as future plans develop

The Orbital Launch Mount is now back inside the Mega Bay where booster 7 is being prepared for continued static fire tests later this month following two single-engine static fire tests. The vehicle is likely ready to roll but will need to be prepared at the launch site for its next testing phase.

As Starship pursues an orbital launch attempt, SpaceX has already begun planning with its vehicles and launch sites, such as 39A at Kennedy Space Center, for the near future. Additionally, Starship won a launch contract, with Superbird-9 slated for 2024.

A six-engine test was expected to complete Ship 24's static fire campaign, but this milestone is still pending. The Raptor 2 engine, however, was used in two tests by Booster 7.The installation of Booster 7 on the OLM was delayed by a day as a result of this, which was eventually done by SpaceX's LR11000 crane positioned on the launch pad.

As part of the second week of August, Ship 24 conducted two six-engine spin prime tests, followed by Booster 7 conducting two single-engine spin prime tests on the OLM. In the morning of August 9, both vehicles were subjected to static fire tests.It was followed just moments later by another test on the 11th, with Musk tweeting about it.

At Starbase, Booster 7 static fired one of its engines for 21 seconds, setting a record for the longest static firing for any Raptor engine. The rollback to Mega Bay seemed to go smoothly the following day, with ground crews removing the booster off the OLM.

In the Mega Bay, SpaceX teams have been installing 13 engines to bring Booster 7 back to a full 33-engine configuration, ready for further static fire testing.

As Musk tweeted on the day that Booster 7 arrived at Mega Bay, workers began to remove an outer engine. These engines and another need to be removed - along with their shielding - so the inner engines can fit underneath the booster transport stand.

The wait for Booster 7's ride back to its launch site has been on since then.The launch site has been repairing and upgrading pad systems for upcoming testing and future flight operations during this time.

It is believed that a new engine chill system has been installed on the Orbital Launch Mount. It is believed that engine methane bleed during engine chilldown was the main reason for the high concentration of methane under Booster 7 during the July 11 incident.

As of today, Booster 7 is still working on this new set of pipes which was first tested during the spin prime and static fire tests performed during the week of August 8.It appears that SpaceX had the system to recapture these methane vapors from the engines, but it was not fully employed because of the unreliable ground systems.

The upcoming Booster 7 tests will still offer the opportunity to tweak the pad system design before any orbital launch will be possible from Starbase. Booster 7 was internally targeted for launch in September before static fire testing, but that may now be too ambitious In addition to Booster 7 and Ship 24, SpaceX is making progress on later vehicles as well.

The ship's nosecone was moved to the High Bay on August 13 and stacked on the payload bay section later that day. On August 18, the nosecone plus payload bay section stack was welded to the ship's forward dome. It will only take a few minutes for the teams to complete the main structure of Ship 25 by welding together the two halves.

In the midst of all this, workers have been seen working on future Starship vehicles and specifically Ship 26.A worker was seen removing Thermal Protection System tiles and blankets from Ship 26's nosecone, while barrel sections that were supposed to receive the installation pins for the TPS tiles are already staged outside in the ring yard.

In spite of the absence of any official explanation, there have been some indications that SpaceX is trying to expedite Ship 26 and Ship 27 by not installing TPS tiles or flaps in order to deliver Starlink v2 satellites as quickly as possible. As soon as Starship proves itself worthy of orbit, the company may need to accelerate deployment.

It is always possible that this plan, as with all plans at Starbase, could change in the future.As Booster 10 received plumbing and hardware for its upcoming stacking in the Mega Bay, its forward and aft domes were sleeved.

It is likely this new dome was penciled in for Ship 28 because it was marked 'SN28.'. Starship 28 will be the first Starship vehicle to use the stretched-formed dome design, which increases tank capacity and performance.

A sixth tower section of the Starship Launch Tower has been delivered, and a seventh tower section has been rolled out to the pad, although it has not yet been stacked on the tower.  The last two pieces of the Starship Launch Tower are well underway at Roberts Road.

It appears that section 8 is also getting ready to roll out in the next few weeks. In just a few days, work will begin on raising Mega Bay's structure from the foundations

The Starship factory is rapidly expanding to the south, with the floor and roof coming together steadily and painting underway as well.Starship has secured its first launch contract for a GTO communications satellite, firmly positioning the rocket in the upcoming launch market and indicating SpaceX's intention to phase out Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.

In spite of the fact that the launch location is not specified, Elon has recently indicated that SpaceX will likely use Starbase for R&D flights in principle.In this contract, Starship will provide some insight into its payload bay designs, including a payload bay door, a new deployment system, and a new payload installation and processing system.