SpaceX's Starship made a dramatic return to Earth on Saturday, caught in midair by the giant mechanical arms of the launch tower at Starbase in South Texas, where its journey began about 22 hours earlier. The upper-stage spacecraft, known as Ship 42, was caught after completing Flight 15, the vehicle's 15th integrated flight test and only its second trip to orbit. It was the first time a Starship upper stage had been recovered at the launch site after travelling to orbit and back.
The mission fell short of its original goal of recovering both stages. The Super Heavy booster's planned tower catch was called off, and the booster exploded in the Gulf of Mexico shortly after Friday's liftoff, with its wreckage cordoned off by buoys. SpaceX's Kate Tice said the booster's engines stopped firing too soon on the way down, and its guidance system automatically initiated the detour and self-destruction. Engineers are still investigating the cause.S1S2
During its time in orbit at about 165 miles (265 kilometers) up, the spacecraft completed 14 laps around Earth and deployed 26 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites. Three satellites carried cameras to inspect the heat shield and other hardware before the return. SpaceX reported that everything on the spacecraft, including its heat shield, appeared to work well, and the ship performed a de-orbit burn and a controlled landing manoeuvre before being caught.S1S2
SpaceX officials said the catch demonstrates the full reusability of Starship, which is intended for travel to the moon and Mars. The company had already caught boosters three times before, so the technique was validated, but this was the first catch of a Starship returning from space. NASA welcomed the news, as it is paying billions of dollars for Starship to land Artemis astronauts on the moon later this decade and help build a permanent lunar base.S1S2
SpaceX expects to begin launching Starships from Florida's Kennedy Space Center within the next few months, the starting point for NASA's next Artemis mission. Elon Musk's longer-term ambition is to launch a fleet of Starships to build a city on Mars.S1
