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SpaceX’s Mechazilla tower reaches six sections at LC-37A
Construction of SpaceX’s new Starship pad at Kennedy Space Center is speeding up, with six Mechazilla tower sections now installed at LC-37A.
Image: iXBT
Construction is moving quickly at SpaceX’s new Starship launch site at Kennedy Space Center. According to observers cited by NASASpaceflight, a sixth service tower module has now been installed at LC-37A, while a seventh module is prepared for lifting and secured to a cargo spreader bar.
The work marks another step in assembling the giant Mechazilla launch tower for SpaceX’s Starship, described by the source as the largest rocket in human history. The company is using the Liebherr LR 13000, a German-built crawler crane with lifting capacity of up to 3,000 tons, which the source describes as the world’s most powerful.
The tower is rising at the historic SLC-37 pad on Cape Canaveral. That site was previously used for Saturn IB launches during the Apollo program and later for Delta IV rockets.
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At the same time, sections of the orbital launch mount (OLM) and new tanks for ground systems are still being delivered to the Roberts Road production site, another sign that the broader complex remains under active construction.
Blue Origin is also picking up the pace nearby. At the Vehicle Refurbishment Facility (VRF) construction site, the building is getting taller, and observers have spotted a large opening that could become a technical access passage or a gate.
Meanwhile, at LC-36, Blue Origin has removed another section of the existing tower. Heavy cranes remain active at both companies' sites, underscoring the rapid buildout now underway on the Florida coast.
Frontier Editor
Dan is our resident futurist, covering electric mobility, space exploration, and the smart home. He's interested in atoms just as much as bits. Whether it's a new battery chemistry, a reusable rocket, or a protocol that finally makes IoT devices talk to each other, Dan breaks down the engineering that pushes humanity forward.
via iXBT
