Explore the rocket
Explore Starship, part by part
Choose a part to see what it does, where it is made and what remains unknown.
The part descriptions are available without 3D.
Vehicle manufacture and assembly
The upper stage
Starbase, Texas
The upper stage carries the payload toward orbit. Its tanks feed six engines; the nose contains the payload compartment. At Starbase, SpaceX assembles the airframe (the ship’s structure), payload compartment and satellite dispenser.
What remains unknown The suppliers of every panel, fitting and dispenser component are not identified in these records.
Source: SpaceX documentation
Vehicle manufacture and assembly
Super Heavy
Starbase, Texas
The lower stage lifts the stack off the pad with 33 engines, then separates from the ship. SpaceX documents Super Heavy manufacturing and build operations at Starbase.
What remains unknown That factory location does not establish the origin of every structural input.
Source: SpaceX documentation
Manufacture; testing in McGregor, Texas
The Raptor engines
Hawthorne, California
SpaceX’s Hawthorne work includes Raptor final assembly and fabrication. Its McGregor facility tests engines and components. The booster carries 33 Raptors; the ship carries six, including three with larger nozzles designed for use in space.
What remains unknown Public factory records do not trace each flown engine, alloy or purchased component.
Source: SpaceX documentation · McGregor testing
Tile production; installation at Starbase
The dark side of the ship
Cape Canaveral, Florida
The tiles protect the ship during its hot return through the atmosphere. SpaceX’s Florida heat-shield team develops production equipment, and its kiln workers turn raw materials into finished tiles. Starbase teams build and fit the supporting structures.
What remains unknown The countries supplying every ceramic ingredient, coating and underlying layer are not established.
Source: SpaceX documentation · Tile manufacture · Installation
Four flaps on the ship
Four surfaces that steer the descent
Manufacturing origin not verified
Two flaps near the nose and two near the base help control the ship as it descends through the atmosphere. SpaceX describes their operation in its V3 flight reports.
What remains unknown The reviewed sources do not identify the flap factories or the makers of the mechanisms that move them. The model shows their exterior positions, not their internal mechanisms.
Source: SpaceX documentation
V3 configuration
Three fins on the booster
Manufacturing origin not verified
These lattice-shaped surfaces help steer Super Heavy on its return. SpaceX reduced their number from four to three for V3 and enlarged them.
What remains unknown The separate manufacturing sites and material suppliers are not verified here.
Source: SpaceX documentation
Electronics production
The rocket’s electrical systems
Hawthorne, California
SpaceX’s Starship Electronics role covers production of communications, navigation and power hardware. These systems help the vehicle determine where it is, send data and distribute electricity.
What remains unknown A California production role is not proof that every chip, sensor or battery cell is American-made. The model shows the ship for context; it does not show the electronics inside.
Source: SpaceX documentation
Structures produced at Starbase
The stainless-steel structure
Steel mill origin not verified
The FAA describes Starship and Super Heavy as primarily stainless steel. SpaceX’s Starbase workers produce tank barrels and domes, while its supplier team oversees purchased materials and processing.
What remains unknown The reviewed sources do not identify the current mill, where the steel was melted, or the origin of all alloy ingredients.
Source: FAA
Original illustrative V3 model by Americana Gecko. Simplified exterior, not engineering drawings. Internal parts are described, not reconstructed.
SpaceX builds Starship and its Super Heavy booster at Starbase, Texas. But the work extends beyond the launch site: Raptor engines are manufactured in California, heat-shield tiles in Florida, and engines tested in central Texas.
Here is the manufacturing trail SpaceX makes public, part by part. It shows substantial work in the United States. It does not establish that every material and component is American-made.
Follow the work
Manufacture, test, assemble
These are documented locations and activities, not a percentage breakdown of the rocket.
Hawthorne
Build the engines
Raptor final assembly, engine fabrication and Starship electronics production.
McGregor
Test the engines
Engine and component tests check performance under flight conditions.
Cape Canaveral
Make the heat-shield tiles
Tile production includes processing and firing materials in kilns.
Starbase
Build the vehicles
Vehicle structures, tank barrels, domes and ship assembly come together here.
Two vehicles, different jobs
“Starship” can mean the complete launch system or just its upper stage. Super Heavy is the booster underneath it. The booster does the initial lifting; the ship continues toward orbit with its payload.
The current SpaceX design page lists the combined system at 124 meters tall and nine meters wide: a 72-meter booster beneath a 52-meter ship. The ship’s three sea-level engines and three vacuum engines serve different conditions. A vacuum engine’s larger nozzle is designed for the very low pressure of space.
The model uses the V3 exterior. One visible difference from earlier versions is the booster’s three enlarged grid fins. They help steer its return. The ship uses four flaps during atmospheric descent. Selecting “Separate stages” simply moves the model apart so both sections can be examined; it is not a simulation of a flight.
A factory address is only part of the answer
SpaceX’s June 2026 prospectus names Starbase as its Starship and Super Heavy manufacturing center, Hawthorne as a Raptor manufacturing location, McGregor as an engine-test site, and Florida as the home of its tile-making “Bakery.” Its own hiring descriptions supply more detail about the work at each place.
Those records matter because they identify real production activities: welding engine hardware, forming tank structures and firing heat-shield tiles. They do not disclose the entire supply chain. A finished assembly can be built in America from inputs made elsewhere.
For steel, the missing step is the mill. The FAA identifies stainless steel as the vehicles’ main structural material, while SpaceX’s materials and metals supplier role describes oversight of purchased materials and processing. Neither source gives us a current, complete mill-to-rocket record.
The same distinction applies to electronics. Hawthorne production work is documented; the origin of every semiconductor, sensor and battery cell is not. An undisclosed origin is an unanswered question, not evidence that a part is foreign.
The component record
What we could trace—and what we could not
All 16 major assemblies and material groups reviewed for this article. Open a row for the evidence and remaining gaps.
Ship airframe and payload section
Starbase builds and assembles the ship’s structure. SpaceX’s assembly role covers the payload compartment and stacking the ship’s sections vertically.
Not verified: Exact origin of every nose-panel, frame, fitting, and input material is not established.
Sources: Lead Starship Engineer (Ship Vehicle Assembly) · EU Prospectus approved June 5, 2026
Ship tank walls and domed ends
The tank structures are produced at Starbase.
Not verified: The current steel mill, where the steel was melted, countries supplying alloy ingredients and which vehicle received each batch.
Super Heavy structure and tanks
Super Heavy takes shape at Starbase. Its structure and tank assemblies belong to the Texas vehicle-production operation.
Not verified: The reviewed sources do not separately trace every booster dome, thrust structure, ring and structural input.
Sources: EU Prospectus approved June 5, 2026 · Build Specialist (Super Heavy Booster)
Hot-staging and thrust structures
V3 incorporates the hot-staging section—the area between the stages where the ship’s engines ignite—into the booster.
Not verified: Fabrication site and upstream material suppliers for these specific assemblies.
Sources: Introducing Starship V3 · Starship Flight 14 · EU Prospectus approved June 5, 2026
Super Heavy’s 33 Raptors
SpaceX manufactures Raptors in Hawthorne and tests engines and components in McGregor.
Not verified: Individual engine serials, alloy origins, castings, electronics, supplier content and the mechanisms that steer the engines are not traced.
Sources: Manufacturing Engineer (Raptor Final Assembly & Tube Shop) · TIG Welder, Chamber and Nozzle (Raptor) · Propulsion Engineer (Raptor Test) · EU Prospectus approved June 5, 2026 · Starship — design
Ship’s six Raptors
The ship carries three sea-level Raptors and three vacuum Raptors. The factory sources cover the Raptor engine family.
Not verified: The sources reviewed do not provide supplier records for individual engines or separate country-of-origin certification for the vacuum variants.
Sources: Starship — design · Manufacturing Engineer (Raptor Final Assembly & Tube Shop) · Propulsion Engineer (Raptor Test)
Heat-shield tiles
Florida makes the tiles. SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral team develops the production equipment, while kiln operators turn raw materials into finished heat-shield tiles.
Not verified: Source countries of raw ceramic ingredients, coatings, and all thermal-protection layers are not established.
Sources: EU Prospectus approved June 5, 2026 · Thermal Hardware Engineer (Starship Heat Shield) · Kiln Technician, Thermal Hardware (Starship) · TIG Welder, Heatshield (Starship)
Thermal shielding, mounting hardware and insulating layers
Starbase fabricators build and install the structures that secure the heat shield.
Not verified: Suppliers of the insulating layers, attachments and coatings, their raw materials, and the separate heat shielding around the base of the booster.
Sources: TIG Welder, Heatshield (Starship) · Introducing Starship V3
Four flaps and the mechanisms that move them
The ship uses four flaps to control its descent.
Not verified: Flap fabrication sites, makers of the motion-control mechanisms and motors, manufacturing countries.
Sources: Starship’s Thirteenth Flight Test · Introducing Starship V3
Three grid fins and catch hardware
V3 has three booster grid fins.
Not verified: Grid-fin fabrication, production of the moving mechanisms, catch-hardware suppliers and material origins.
Sources: Introducing Starship V3
Flight computers, sensors, communications and flight safety
Hawthorne supports Starship electronics production, including communications, power and navigation hardware.
Not verified: Semiconductor fabrication, vendors, navigation and propellant-level sensors, cameras, Starlink equipment, circuit-board materials and flight-termination hardware.
Sources: Production Engineer (Starship Electronics) · Introducing Starship V3 · Starship Flight 14
Batteries and electrical power hardware
Electrical power hardware is part of the Starship Electronics team’s production work in Hawthorne.
Not verified: Exact battery-cell maker, cell factory, pack assembly and origins of power-conversion and other electrical components for this V3 reference.
Sources: Production Engineer (Starship Electronics) · Introducing Starship V3
Feedlines, valves, pressure vessels and fueling connections
SpaceX’s Hawthorne work includes making the pipes and other hardware that carry fluids through the Raptor engines.
Not verified: The reviewed sources do not identify all the factories and suppliers for the vehicle’s valves, pressure vessels, pipes, gas-jet steering hardware, recirculation equipment and fueling connectors.
Sources: TIG Welder, Chamber and Nozzle (Raptor) · Introducing Starship V3
Payload bay, door and satellite dispenser
Starbase’s ship assembly work includes the payload compartment and satellite dispenser.
Not verified: Exact manufacture locations of door mechanisms, motion-control mechanisms, power-conversion electronics and other dispenser subcomponents.
Sources: Lead Starship Engineer (Ship Vehicle Assembly) · Introducing Starship V3
Steel and other raw materials
The FAA describes the vehicles as primarily stainless steel.
Not verified: The current steel supplier, where the metal was melted and rolled, the origins of recycled metal and alloy ingredients, and which vehicle received each batch.
Sources: FAA · Supplier Development Engineer, Materials & Metals (Starship)
Docking and in-space refueling hardware
V3 adds four docking receptacles and transfer connections so ships can connect and transfer propellant in space.
Not verified: Factories and suppliers for the docking receptacles, coupling mechanisms, seals and transfer connections. This describes installed hardware, not a completed in-space refueling demonstration.
Sources: Introducing Starship V3
How we built this guide
Sources include SpaceX’s design and flight reports, June 2026 prospectus and factory job descriptions, plus an FAA environmental assessment. Job descriptions identify work at a factory; they do not trace the parts in a particular flown vehicle.
This guide covers 16 major assemblies and material groups in the V3 flight vehicle, rather than every fastener, seal, chip or alloy ingredient. It excludes launch towers, ground equipment, satellite cargo, lunar landers and future variants.
The sources reviewed do not support a percentage for U.S.-made content or a claim that one Starship version is the “most American-made.”
Sources reviewed October 23, 2026. Illustration and interactive model: Americana Gecko. No affiliation with or endorsement by SpaceX is implied.
