SpaceX catches upper stage of Starship rocket in historic first

A landmark return to Starbase

After a 22.5-hour flight, SpaceX caught Starship’s top section, known as the Ship, at the Starbase launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas. Staff watching the return cheered loudly. The 124-metre rocket lifted off from Starbase at 16:47 local time on Friday. The Ship travelled to space and released 26 satellites for the Starlink internet constellation.

Booster recovery falls short

SpaceX had also hoped to catch the rocket’s lower section, the Super Heavy Booster. That attempt was aborted minutes after launch, and the booster diverted to the ocean, hovered above the water and exploded.

SpaceX has caught Super Heavy on three earlier test flights. Before this flight, the company said it would decide whether to attempt a Ship catch after assessing the vehicle in space.

A step toward reusable flights

Recovering rocket stages can help reduce launch costs. Falcon 9 rockets fly more than 100 times a year, and reuse of their lower stage has substantially cut costs, the report said.

One assessment said recovering the Ship was a major advance, despite the missed booster recovery. It noted that SpaceX has demonstrated both parts of the recovery challenge, but not yet on the same flight; combining them and proving consistent, economical reuse remain future milestones.

Implications for lunar plans

Starship’s progress has implications for Nasa’s effort to land astronauts on the Moon in 2028, a timeline described as highly ambitious. Nasa has contracted SpaceX to configure the Ship as a lander for future crewed trips to the lunar surface. The successful Ship recovery marks progress toward that role, while the booster’s aborted recovery shows that the two-stage recovery goal has not yet been achieved together.