SpaceX caught Starship at its Texas launch tower after an approximately 22-hour orbital test flight, a significant advance in recovering the spacecraft after orbit. The same mission did not recover its booster: SpaceX said the booster’s engines shut down too early during descent, and its guidance system diverted it to water and initiated self-destruction.
Digi24, citing the Associated Press and News.ro, reported that Starship returned vertically on Saturday and was caught in mid-air by the tower’s mechanical arms. The report called it the first catch of a Starship returning from space.
The catch matters because it joins orbital return to ground-based recovery at the launch site. Digi24 reported that Starship reached orbit, deployed 26 Starlink satellites and completed 14 orbits before returning. SpaceX said the catch demonstrated full reusability, but that claim extends beyond what this flight delivered: the booster, an essential part of the system, did not complete recovery.
SpaceX attributed the booster loss to the early engine shutdown and said engineers were investigating the cause. The successful ship catch is a concrete engineering milestone. Repeated recoveries of both stages, rather than this single ship recovery alone, will determine whether the system can deliver the rapid, lower-cost reuse SpaceX is pursuing.
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Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-15