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You'll Thank Me Later (Marmac 31)

Starship Transport Barge · SpaceX

You'll Thank Me Later (originally Marmac 31) is SpaceX's dedicated transport barge for shipping Starship and Super Heavy hardware from the Star Factory at Starbase, Texas to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Specifications

OperatorSpaceX
TypeStarship Transport Barge
Status● Active
Home PortBrownsville, TX / Port Canaveral, FL
CoastGulf of Mexico / East Coast
Length95m (310ft)
Beam30m (100ft)
Built / Acquired2023
Name OriginContinues SpaceX's tradition of Iain M. Banks Culture novel references
Associated VehiclesStarship, Super Heavy booster

Overview

With Starship standing 50 metres tall and 9 metres in diameter, road or rail transport is impractical across long distances. You'll Thank Me Later makes the ~1,000+ nautical mile Gulf crossing from Starbase to Kennedy Space Center in 3–7 days depending on weather, enabling SpaceX to centralise production in Texas while launching from both coasts.

The barge works alongside Just Read the Instructions (JRTI), which also serves dual duty as a Starship transport vessel. SpaceX VP Kiko Donchev has described the strategy as decoupling production from launch-site constraints, enabling parallel vehicle integration across multiple pads.

As Starship production scales toward hundreds of vehicles per year, barge transport capacity is expected to scale in parallel, potentially carrying 2–4 vehicles per optimised trip.

Key Features

Related Vessels & Pages

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