--- title: "SpaceX Watchers Spot Starship Cargo Bay Doors at Launch Facility" description: "Special Delivery Onlookers at SpaceX’s Starship testing facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, have spotted something fun: a payload bay door destined for the company’s Starship 24 prototype, as NASASpaceflight‘s Chris Bergin suggests. Details are still extremely sparse as to how the space company’s Starship will deliver cargo into orbit. Earlier this year, SpaceX announced the […]" date: "2022-04-11" modified: "2022-04-11" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-starship-cargo-bay-doors" categories: - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" tags: - "NASA" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" - "the digest" --- # SpaceX Watchers Spot Starship Cargo Bay Doors at Launch Facility ![]() *\Image: SpaceX\* ## Special Delivery Keen-eyed observers at SpaceX's Starship testing facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, have spotted something pretty exciting: payload bay doors likely destined for the company's Starship 24 prototype, as *NASASpaceFlight*'s Chris Bergin [suggests](). Details are still extremely sparse as to how the space company's Starship will deliver cargo into orbit. Earlier this year, SpaceX announced that the rocket will be used early on to [deliver the company's Starlink broadband-beaming satellites]() to space. Other sightings of Starship segments suggest the company is trying to deliver satellites into orbit using a conveyor-belt style delivery mechanism, which appears to have been installed inside the cargo bay. In a [Starship User Guide]() released in April 2020, the company detailed a "cargo configuration" that would allow for the "autonomous deployment of cargo" — but plans have likely changed since then. We do, however, know the cargo bay will be massive, as SpaceX is hoping to launch [over 100 tons]() into orbit at one time. ## Heavy Lift Starship will eventually be capable of ferrying [up to 400 Starlink]() satellites to orbit in a single launch, a major upgrade over the approximately 60 satellites the company's Falcon 9 rocket can deliver. The company is all in on its Starship platform. Last month, SpaceX execs confirmed the company had already [halted the production]() of Crew Dragon capsules, suggesting Starship could soon take over the task of transporting astronauts into space — and eventually to the surface of the Moon and Mars, if all [goes according to plan](). SpaceX has yet to announce how exactly it plans to deliver Starlink satellites into orbit using its brand new heavy launch system — but we're keen to find out. **More on Starship:** *[SpaceX Fans Annoyed That Starship Orbital Launch Won’t Involve a Weed Joke]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()