SpaceX catches Starship after orbital flight for first time

SpaceX caught its Starship upper stage with the mechanical arms of its launch tower on Saturday, Nov 14, after the spacecraft returned from orbit. It is the first time a Starship upper stage has been caught after an orbital flight. Starship Flight 15 lifted off from Starbase at about 4:47 pm Central Time on Nov 13. The mission lasted about 22 to 22.5 hours. The upper stage, Ship 42, reached low Earth orbit about 27 minutes after launch, deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites, and completed 14 orbits. The orbital altitude was roughly 260 to 275 kilometres, with about 265 kilometres the most commonly cited figure. SpaceX reviewed heat shield data, including imagery from cameras on some of the satellites. Ship 42 then performed its deorbit burn, came down under engine control and was caught by the two arms of the tower, informally called “chopsticks.” SpaceX said the spacecraft and its heat shield appeared to perform well. It was the 15th full-scale Starship flight since integrated testing began in 2023. Booster lost SpaceX had planned to catch both stages. The Super Heavy booster, Booster 22, separated by hot staging, but its boostback burn ended early. SpaceX spokesperson Kate Tice said early indications were that a low fuel-mass alarm caused it. The guidance system judged the booster was not correctly positioned for a tower catch and sent it automatically to an offshore recovery area in the Gulf of Mexico, where its flight termination system destroyed it. SpaceX said the abort worked as designed, because it prevented a catch attempt from a poor position. SpaceX had already caught Super Heavy boosters on three earlier flights. Flight 14, on Sept 28, was the programme’s first orbital flight and also deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites. Caught, not yet reused Falcon 9 is partly reusable: its first stage and fairings are recovered, but its upper stage is generally discarded. Starship is designed so that both stages can be recovered and flown again. A catch shows the vehicle can return, not that it can be inspected and relaunched quickly or cheaply. SpaceX has not said how much refurbishment Ship 42 needs, whether its engines and heat shield tiles can fly again without major work, or when it might fly again. Starship’s design target is more than 100 metric tonnes to low Earth orbit when fully reusable, which Flight 15 did not test. SpaceX has invested at least US$15 billion in Starship, and NASA has contributed about US$3.2 billion through its human landing system programme. Elon Musk has set a goal of weekly Starship launches in the first half of 2027. The Moon is not yet closer NASA’s plans rely on Starship, alongside Blue Origin, as a human lunar lander. The Starship design needs several tanker flights to transfer super-cold propellant to a lander in orbit. The US Government Accountability Office reported that, as of May 2026, SpaceX had not demonstrated the technology to store and transfer propellant in orbit. NASA revised its Artemis plans on Oct 23. Artemis III is now planned for 2027 as an Earth-orbit test in which astronauts rendezvous and dock with commercial lander test vehicles. It involves the Orion spacecraft, a Blue Origin Blue Moon test vehicle and a Starship Version 3 test article launched from Florida, which astronauts will not enter. Artemis IV is targeted for a crewed lunar landing in 2028, depending on lander readiness. Neither SpaceX nor Blue Origin has been assigned an exclusive first landing, and NASA will choose based on readiness. Florida expansion SpaceX plans Starship operations at Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral. The Federal Aviation Administration is reviewing a proposal for up to 76 launches, 76 booster landings and 76 spacecraft landings a year. Those are proposed limits, not planned flights. A 2025 Air Force environmental review allowed certain construction and preparatory work, but the FAA says SpaceX must obtain a modification to its vehicle operator licence before launches and landings there. The environmental review found noise to be a significant impact needing mitigation, and other effects not significant under stated mitigation.