B6

B6
--

Booster 6 was planned to be the third orbital-class Super Heavy booster. It was believed it could launch Ship 22 to orbit. B6 was first spotted on September 12. After some progress in November 2021, a booster fwd dome was lowered directly on its common dome on December 07, thus creating some sort of a test tank. On 15 December 2021, the test tank B6 was rolled to the rocket garden at the PPS/Sanchez site. It is unknown, if there are further plans to use the booster 6 test tank [February 2022].

In November 2022, the tank was used as B6.1 together with a ship aft section for interstage testing on the can crusher. In May 2023, B6 was filled with water and is believed to have been blown by an upgraded flight termination system.

## Timeline

* 21 Aug 2021: B6? thrust puck spotted
* 12 Sept 2021: Cmn dome sleeve spotted (4-ring section)
* 21 Sept 2021: B4/B5/B6?? fwd dome sleeve spotted (3-ring with strengthening/enforcement)
* 21 Sept 2021: B4/B5/B6?? aft tank #3 segment spotted (4-ring)
* 30 Sept 2021: Cmn dome section (3-ring with stiffeners and hole) spotted
* 02 Oct 2021: Booster thrust puck delivered [B5?, B6?]
* 05 Oct 2021: Fwd #2 section spotted (3-ring "triple stack")
* 05 Oct 2021: Aft #5 section spotted (4-ring, "4.0mm")
* 05 Oct 2021: Booster fwd section spotted in a tent [B5/B6?]
* 05 Oct 2021: Booster [B5/B6?] thrust puck with 13 engine mounts delivered for booster with new **33 engine design (3, 10, 20 vs 1, 8, 20)**
* 06 Oct 2021: New booster thrust puck for 13 engines [B5/B6?] lifted from truck
* 11 Oct 2021: Booster aft section with installed COPVs spotted in a fabrication tent [B6?]
* 22 Oct 2021: Booster aft tank#5 and #3 spotted [B6?, signs look like B4 and B5]
* 24 Oct 2021: Booster aft dome lowered onto sleeving stand [B6/B7?]
* 25 Oct 2021: Aft dome on sleeving stand, ready for sleeving
* 26 Oct 2021: Booster fwd section spotted outside tents [label B4/B6 fwd dome??] PPS staircase assembly continued
* 08 Nov 2021: Fwd sleeve shown (3-rings, vertical stiffeners, holes for grid fins)
* 09 Nov 2021: Two forward domes and a booster fwd sleeve (B6, yesterday) at the production site: as well as a Ship common dome and a aft sleeve and two pipes for methane transfer tube
* 11 Nov 2021: Fwd dome sleeve hooked to crane, lifted and sleeved with fwd dome
* 13 Nov 2021: Aft section (sleeved?) shown, work on it
* 21 Nov 2021: Booster common dome sleeved [B6?]; second booster common dome sleeve moved near it
* 28 Nov 2021: Common dome section hooked to flipping jig and flipped; methane transfer pipe appears to be plugged [?]
* 07 Dec 2021: B6 common dome section with lead-ins hooked to crane; booster fwd dome section spotted near it, also attached to crane; both later detached from crane; fwd dome attachedto another crane, stacked onto B6 common dome; **B6 apparently now a test tank with B6 common dome and a booster forward dome**
* 08 Dec 2021: Work near wide bay construction site
* 09 Dec 2021: Work continued
* 10 Dec 2021: B6 test tank moved into high bay
* 12 Dec 2021: Test tank worked on in high bay
* 15 Dec 2021: **B6 test tank moved to PPS**, moved next to SN15, SN16, B5
* 16 Dec 2021: Work continued
* 17 Dec 2021: Rocket garden at PPS: B5, BN2.1, B2.1, SN15, B6, SN16

## References

1. ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/NicAnsuini/status/1437053570814287881?ref\_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Eembeddedtimeline%7Ctwterm%5Eprofile%3ANASASpaceflight%7Ctwgr%5EeyJ0ZndfZX