BN1

History

Construction

BN1 is the first of the prototype Super Heavy boosters.

On 8 November 2020 SpaceX started stacking the components for BN1 together. As of 14 December BN1 was eight rings tall. By 12 March 2021 BN1 components had been moved to the High Bay and stacking operations had started with the methane section stacked onto the engine section.

Stacking took place on 18 March with the segments placed together with Musk announcing it as the first Super Heavy booster. He also stated that BN1 was a production pathfinder, for them to learn and gain experience building the boosters as well as transporting the 70m high stage. BN2 would be the first booster to actually fly.

On 31 March Elon Musk announced that BN1 would be scrapped in the future after serving its purpose, instead BN2 would have changes incorporated into it and they would aim to get it onto the orbital launch pad with engines by the end of April.

Viewers of the LabPadre live stream witnessed the beginnings of BN1 being disassembled late in the night on 12 April. Scrapping continued during 13 April with more pieces of BN1 being cut apart and moved for scrapping.

Milestones

All dates & times are local unless otherwise indicated.