SpaceX caught the upper stage of its Starship rocket at the launch tower in Starbase, Texas, on Saturday after a flight of more than 22 hours. SpaceX confirmed the catch. Its live webcast showed the uncrewed spacecraft descend beside the tower around 3:20 p.m. Central time. The tower’s arms closed around the ship and held it upright. It was the first time SpaceX recovered a Starship upper stage after it had reached orbit.
The flight began Friday afternoon in South Texas. SpaceX had planned to catch both stages with the launch tower’s mechanical arms. The first-stage Super Heavy booster separated after liftoff but diverted to the Gulf of Mexico, ending the chance to recover the complete vehicle on this flight. The upper stage continued to orbit and released all 26 of its Starlink satellites during the test.
Why the return mattered
The two stages come back under different conditions. The booster turns back minutes after liftoff. The upper stage carries the payload into orbit and must survive the heat of atmospheric reentry before it can approach the tower. SpaceX had caught three earlier boosters before this flight. Saturday was the first attempt to bring an orbiting Starship upper stage back to the launch site.
SpaceX’s flight plan called for about 14 trips around Earth over more than 22 hours. The company gave controllers several opportunities to end the mission with an ocean splashdown if they judged the ship unfit for a return to Texas. On Saturday, SpaceX announced it had cleared the spacecraft to head back to Starbase, then confirmed that the upper stage had reentered Earth’s atmosphere.
SpaceX wants to fly both stages again after recovery. Saturday’s catch shows the ship can make it back to the tower after an orbital flight. SpaceX has yet to recover both stages from the same flight.
