A curious delivery caught the eyes of NSF’s cameras at SpaceX’s McGregor test site in Texas: three battered and heavily damaged Raptor engines, potentially from either the aft of recently recovered Booster 13, or the debris of Ship 36, which blew up during testing at Masseys.
SpaceX’s McGregor facility is the beating heart of the company’s engine testing program, where nearly every Merlin and Raptor engine is put through its paces before flight. NSF operates a 24/7 livestream of the site, and over the years, it’s become a window into SpaceX’s engine development and production cadence. But this latest sighting was unusual.
Following a recent camera repositioning to monitor new test stands, NSF’s began noticing a steady stream of hardware—Merlin and Raptor engines, Falcon 9 stages, and more—rolling through the roads of McGregor. Among those, three wrecked Raptor engines raised eyebrows.
These engines weren’t just scorched. They appeared seriously deformed—more so than any we’ve seen in recent booster recoveries. Initially, many suspected they may have come from Booster 13, which flew Starship’s sixth test flight before ditching into the Gulf of Mexico. That booster was recovered and recently delivered to SpaceX’s Massey site for analysis.
Jack Beyer of NSF captured photos of the Booster 13 aft section shortly after arrival at Massey, showing most of the Raptor engines still intact—if waterlogged.
The engines showed signs of corrosion and discoloration, particularly a greenish-blue hue inside the nozzles, likely caused by prolonged saltwater exposure and reactions with the copper liner.
But the engines delivered to McGregor lacked this telltale color. Instead, they looked severely scorched and physically crushed—indicating heat and impact damage, not just corrosion. In fact, even the worst-looking nozzle on Booster 13 still appears to be in better shape than these three.
More recent images of Booster 13 confirm that most of its engines remain attached, particularly those nearer to the bottom of the vehicle, which appear to be in relatively good shape. So if not Booster 13, then where did these Raptors come from?
Another candidate: Ship 36
A few weeks ago, Ship 36 suffered a catastrophic explosion during testing at the Massey site. The blast obliterated much of the vehicle, including its engines. SpaceX responded quickly, clearing debris and beginning repairs to Massey, including upgrades to prevent similar failures in the future.
If these engines were from Ship 36, it would explain their severely burnt appearance and structural damage. It’s plausible they were recovered during the Massey site cleanup and then sent to McGregor for inspection.
Why send them to McGregor at all? The test site isn’t just for firing engines—it’s also where SpaceX dissects, analyzes, and learns from them. The engineering teams in McGregor are intimately familiar with Raptor hardware, and they’re well-equipped to assess post-failure components for design insights and failure analysis.
Ready for Scrapping?
Alternatively, they could simply be bound for scrap. McGregor has an engine graveyard of sorts—an area filled with old, retired Falcon and Starship hardware, visible in aerial photos by NSF contributor Gary Blair, who has been providing regular flyover photos of the test for years in NSF L2.
Engine collection at SpaceX McGregor via Gary Blair for NSF.
Previous recoveries, such as the aft section of Booster 11, have ended up there as well.
Ultimately, whether these engines are from Ship 36, Booster 13, or another mystery vehicle, one thing’s clear: even damaged Raptors can still offer SpaceX valuable lessons. And for keen-eyed NSF viewers, every new delivery is a potential clue in SpaceX’s fast-moving development puzzle.
Report by Sawyer Rosenstein for NSF’s BREAKINGSpace. Written by Alejandro Alcantarilla Romera. Lead image: NSF’s McGregor Live.
