After 14 laps around Earth, SpaceX successfully catches Starship and makes history with first return capture

A historic return to the pad

Starship returned to Earth on Saturday and was caught by mechanical arms at the launch pad where its journey began 22 hours earlier. SpaceX had hoped to recover both the spacecraft and its booster, but the booster exploded after Friday’s liftoff from Texas.

The stainless steel spacecraft lowered itself upright at the pad, while booster wreckage remained in the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX officials said the catch showed Starship could be fully reusable.

Flight reached orbit

The 407-foot rocket launched late Friday from SpaceX’s Starship base near the U.S.-Mexican border. After separating from its booster, the spacecraft reached orbit and released 26 advanced Starlink satellites.

Starship circled Earth 14 times at an altitude of 165 miles. It was the company’s 15th full-scale Starship flight since 2023 and only its second trip to orbit. SpaceX said the spacecraft’s systems, including its heat shield, appeared to work well.

Booster failure under review

SpaceX’s Kate Tice said the booster’s engines stopped firing too soon during its return. Its guidance system detected that it was out of position and triggered a watery diversion and self-destruction.

Engineers are investigating what caused the failure. SpaceX had already caught boosters three times before, validating the recovery technique, but Friday’s attempt did not succeed.

NASA plans future missions

SpaceX expects to start Starship launches from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center within the next few months. Artemis III astronauts are due to practice docking their capsule with Starship and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon; NASA is targeting Artemis IV for as soon as 2028, with a planned moon landing.