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SpaceX catches upper stage of Starship rocket in historic first
SpaceX said the catch demonstrates Starship’s full reusability after the spacecraft completed 14 laps around Earth and deployed 26 Starlink satellites.
- 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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After a 22-hour orbital flight, Starship was first successfully captured by service tower manipulators at SpaceX launch site.
SpaceX achieved a historic milestone by first recovering the Starship spacecraft with the mechanical arms of its Mechazilla launch tower in Texas after completing its orbital flight.
Coverage Details
Total News Sources284
Leaning Left65Leaning Right47Center86Last UpdatedBias Distribution43% Center
Bias Distribution
- 43% of the sources are Center
43% Center
L 33%
C 43%
R 24%
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