SpaceX catches upper stage of Starship rocket in historic first
The milestone marks the first orbital recovery of a Starship second stage and advances SpaceX’s plan for a fully reusable rocket system.
- On Saturday, SpaceX successfully caught its Starship upper stage using giant mechanical arms at Starbase, Texas, after the spacecraft, Ship 42, completed 14 orbits over a 22-hour flight.
- SpaceX fell short of its goal to recover both rocket stages when the Super Heavy booster aborted its landing attempt Friday due to a low-fuel alarm, resulting in an offshore splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
- Deploying 26 Starlink V3 satellites, Ship 42 returned to be secured by the launch tower's mechanical 'chopstick' arms, which SpaceX commentator Dan Huot called "the missing link" of spaceflight.
- This midair capture serves as a major proof of concept for the Starship program, marking the first time an orbital upper stage has been fully recovered—essential to SpaceX's goal of fully reusable rocket systems.
- NASA's Artemis lunar missions and eventual Mars exploration will rely on Starship technology, as SpaceX aims to increase launch cadence to support a constellation of up to one million satellites for orbital data infrastructure.
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SpaceX's Starship completes first-ever midair catch on return from orbit
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft returned from its mission with a successful midair recovery by mechanical arms. The spacecraft completed 14 orbits while deploying 26 satellites before returning to Earth. However, the Super Heavy booster failed its recovery attempt shortly after launch, resulting in its destruction. The heat shield of the spacecraft performed well, indicating progress toward full reusability.
Ars Technica
MASSIVE.NEWSWith Starship catch, SpaceX still shows it can dazzle the world
It felt like stepping into the future.
The company of Elon Musk, SpaceX, managed to catch up on the imposing upper floor of its Starship rocket, a feat unprecedented in the aerospace world.
SpaceX, the American space company led by Elon Musk, has built a new monument in the space industry. On the 14th (15th KST), during the 15th test launch of Starship, the most powerful rocket in history, the company successfully returned the upper stage (second stage) of Starship to the launch pad and recovered it. Although the recovery of the first stage Super Heavy failed the previous day, the following day
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