SpaceX has aborted its attempt to catch the bottom part of its huge Starship rocket during the latest test flight. The lower stage, known as the Super Heavy booster, was meant to be caught by the mechanical arms on the launch tower as it returned to Earth. Instead, it was diverted to the ocean and burst into flames as it came down.
The upper section, called the Ship, is continuing its journey to space. SpaceX will decide whether to attempt a catch of this stage at about 1515 local time (2115 GMT) on Saturday.
Starship launch and the planned catch of the Ship
The 124-metre rocket blasted off from the Starbase launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas, at 1645 local time (2245 GMT) on Friday. The booster was supposed to return to the tower about six and a half minutes later, but the plan changed during the descent.
During a live stream of the launch, a SpaceX spokesperson said: “Safety is always the number one priority, and we’re still testing out things that we haven’t done before on these vehicles, and so we are prioritising making sure that we can perform each maneuver safely.”
The Ship is deploying 26 satellites, which will form part of the Starlink constellation that provides high-speed internet from space. It is due to complete 14 orbits of the Earth before returning to the launch tower 22.5 hours after take-off, when a second catch may be attempted.
SpaceX has caught the Super Heavy booster on three earlier test flights. The Ship, however, has never been grabbed by the chopsticks. Its upper stage reached orbit for the first time in September, and on previous flights it has splashed down in the ocean instead.
Before the flight, SpaceX said it would only decide whether to catch the Ship after carefully assessing the vehicle while it was in space. If problems are detected, there are several points during the flight at which the stage can be brought down in the ocean.
Why full reusability matters for SpaceX
Building a fully reusable rocket has long been an ambition for SpaceX. This would be the company’s first attempt to fully recover its rocket, which could allow Starship to fly repeatedly and reduce costs.
The company became the first to land part of a rocket vertically in 2015, when it recovered the booster of its Falcon 9 rocket. Falcon 9 rockets now fly more than a hundred times a year, and reusing the bottom stage has dramatically cut launch costs.
Landing an entire Starship rocket could take that progress further, according to Prof Malcolm Macdonald, President of the Royal Aeronautical Society. “Full reusability has the potential to fundamentally change the economics of accessing space,” he said.
He added: “One successful flight will not prove that model, but it could mark an important transition: from demonstrating that Starship can fly, to demonstrating how Starship could operate.”
What the flight means for Nasa’s Moon plans
SpaceX’s shareholders will be closely watching the flight, since the company went public earlier this year. The US space agency, Nasa, will also be following its progress closely.
Starship’s development has direct implications for Nasa’s aim of landing humans on the Moon in 2028, a timeline described as highly ambitious. SpaceX has a Nasa contract to configure the Ship as a lander that will eventually take astronauts down to the lunar surface.
SpaceX is not the only company working with Nasa on this goal. Blue Origin, owned by rival tech billionaire Jeff Bezos, also holds a contract to use its New Glenn rocket and lander for a Moon landing. Both companies are expected to play a key role in Artemis III, currently planned for summer 2027, in which four astronauts would fly in Nasa’s Orion spacecraft and attempt to dock with both landers.
Starship will need to make rapid progress in the coming months to meet these commitments, as the pace of its development has been far slower than SpaceX intended. Blue Origin also faces difficulties. Earlier this year, its rocket exploded and totally destroyed its launchpad in Florida. The company had said it would return to flight by the end of this year, but that has now been delayed to early 2027.
Nasa’s administrator, Jared Isaacman, has said America is in a race with China to reach the Moon. China plans to land its taikonauts on the lunar surface by 2030.
