SpaceX Starship test to attempt first-ever spaceship 'catch'
What happened
SpaceX launched its 15th Starship flight from Texas on Friday but called off the planned catch of the Super Heavy booster, sending it into the ocean instead, according to the BBC.
The 124-metre rocket lifted off from Starbase at 4:45 p.m. local time, and the booster was meant to return to the launch tower's mechanical arms about six and a half minutes later.
A SpaceX spokesperson said safety comes first because the company is still testing manoeuvres it has not done before on these vehicles.
The upper stage, called Ship, is continuing to orbit, where it is deploying 26 Starlink satellites.
Ship is due to make 14 orbits and return to Texas 22.5 hours after launch, and SpaceX will decide after checking the vehicle in space whether to try catching it.
The upper stage has never been caught before; on past flights it has splashed down in the ocean.
“Safety is always the number one priority, and we're still testing out things that we haven't done before on these vehicles”
BBC
Summary written by AI from 3 independent sources (Cyprus Mail, Ars Technica, BBC) and checked automatically against them for copied text and numbers that are not in the sources. How we work
Open on the live globe →Who reported it
- 2026-11-13 05:34 UTCIraqi News via AFP · iraqinews.com ↗
- 2026-11-13 10:11 UTCPhys.org via AFP · phys.org ↗
- 2026-11-13 11:05 UTCCyprus Mail · cyprus-mail.com ↗
- 2026-11-13 11:07 UTCCNA same text as Cyprus Mail · channelnewsasia.com ↗
- 2026-11-13 12:00 UTCArs Technica · arstechnica.com ↗
- 2026-11-13 20:12 UTCBBC · bbc.co.uk ↗
- 2026-11-13 21:09 UTCMyJoyOnline · myjoyonline.com ↗
- 2026-11-13 23:23 UTCSCMP via AP · scmp.com ↗
- 2026-11-13 23:38 UTCGuardian · theguardian.com ↗
- 2026-11-14 00:36 UTCCNBC · cnbc.com ↗
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