SpaceX's Starship returns from orbit and is captured by launchpad arms in a dramatic first
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • 18 hours ago • 1 commentsBy: The Associated Press By The Associated Press
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Nov. 13, 2026, 6:21 PM EST / Updated Nov. 14, 2026, 6:11 PM EST / Source: The Associated PressBy The Associated Press
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX's Starship made a triumphant return to Earth on Saturday, caught in midair by giant mechanical arms where its journey began 22 hours earlier.
It was the grand finale that Elon Musk and his team hoped for — the first-ever capture of a Starship flying back from space. But with the first-stage booster exploding shortly after Friday's liftoff from Texas, the company fell short of its desired double catch, still the goal for accelerating moon and Mars travel.
Wreckage remained in the Gulf of Mexico, cordoned off by buoys, as the stainless steel, bullet-shaped spacecraft lowered itself upright at the launch pad.
Starship Flight 15 lifts off from Pad 2 at Starbase, Texas, on Friday.Brennen Tse / NBC News
The dramatic, sci-fi-like capture helped blot out the booster's messy miss. Cameras panned the spacecraft up and down as it hung high above the ground, supported by the arms of the launch tower.
"Can you believe it?" SpaceX commentator Dan Huot shouted, dragging out each word. "Look at her! Baby, she's back!"
Soon afterward, Musk congratulated his "incredible team." SpaceX officials said Saturday's catch demonstrates the full reusability of Starship, crucial for rapid and low-cost recycling. Although Friday's booster recovery failed, the company had already made three previous booster catches, validating the technique.
Starship ascends toward orbit on Friday.Brennen Tse / NBC News
NASA welcomed Saturday's news. The space agency is paying billions of dollars for Starship to land Artemis astronauts on the moon later this decade and help build a permanent lunar base. Musk's ambitions are even grander: He wants to launch a fleet of Starships to build a city on Mars.
"It was almost magic," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said via X. "Making more believers by the day.The world's largest and most powerful rocket — a 407-foot (124-meter) behemoth — blasted off Friday afternoon from SpaceX's Starship base near the U.S.-Mexican border. Separating neatly from its booster before things went awry, the upper-stage spacecraft soared into orbit and released 26 advanced Starlink satellites.
The flight termination system (FTS) activates as the Super Heavy booster performs a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in a large explosion on Friday.Brennen Tse / NBC News
Starship continued circling the world 165 miles up, with live views of itself and Earth streaming down via Starlink. The spacecraft completed 14 laps around Earth, outshining the previous mission's one to two laps.
It was SpaceX's 15th flight of a full-scale Starship since 2023 and its only second trip to orbit.
SpaceX reported that everything on the spacecraft, including its vital heat shield, appeared to work well.
As for the booster, SpaceX's Kate Tice said its engines stopped firing too soon on the way back down. The booster's guidance system sensed it wasn't in the right position and automatically initiated the watery detour and self-destruction. Engineers are still investigating the cause.
The sun rises behind the stacked Super Heavy booster and Starship on Friday.Brennen Tse / NBC News
SpaceX expects to begin launching Starships from Florida's Kennedy Space Center within the next few months. That is the starting point for NASA's next Artemis mission, which will skip the moon and remain in orbit around Earth for lunar lander practice.
Artemis III's four astronauts will attempt to dock their capsule with not only Starship but Blue Origin's Blue Moon. The two companies will take turns delivering crews to the lunar surface. NASA is targeting as soon as 2028 for Artemis IV, humanity's first moon landing since the Apollo era more than half a century ago.
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