SpaceX Starship returns from orbit and is caught midair, but booster explodes
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft completed 14 orbits and was caught by mechanical arms at its Texas launch pad. Its first-stage booster, however, malfunctioned after liftoff and exploded.
SpaceX, the US space company led by Elon Musk, brought its Starship spacecraft back to its Texas launch site on Saturday, where giant mechanical arms caught it in midair. It is the first time a Starship returning from space has been caught. The result matters because it demonstrates the vehicle's full reusability; Starship is intended for travel to the Moon and Mars.
The rocket, at 124 metres (407 feet) the world's largest and most powerful, lifted off late Friday afternoon from SpaceX's base near the US-Mexican border. The upper stage, which is the spacecraft itself, separated cleanly from the first-stage booster and reached orbit, where it released 26 advanced Starlink satellites. It circled Earth at an altitude of 265 kilometres (165 miles) and completed 14 laps, compared with one or two on the previous mission. It was SpaceX's 15th full-scale Starship flight since 2023 and only its second to reach orbit. The company reported that everything on the craft, including its vital heat shield, appeared to work well.
Booster destroyed
The booster catch failed. SpaceX's Kate Tice said its engines stopped firing too early on the way down. The guidance system sensed the booster was not in the right position and automatically diverted it to the sea, where it destroyed itself. Wreckage remained in the Gulf of Mexico, cordoned off by buoys, and engineers are still investigating the cause. The company had previously caught a booster three times.
Significance for NASA plans
NASA, the US space agency, welcomed the news. It 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 plans to use a fleet of Starships to build a city on Mars.
SpaceX expects to start launching Starships from Florida's Kennedy Space Center within the next few months. That site is the starting point for NASA's next Artemis mission, which will not go to the Moon but will stay in Earth orbit to practise with a lunar lander. The four Artemis III astronauts will try to dock their capsule with both Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon. NASA is targeting Artemis IV, a Moon landing, as early as 2028.
