On a Friday from Starbase in South Texas, humanity's largest rocket rose with a bold aim: to bring both of its stages home intact for reuse. The spacecraft reached orbit and began releasing its 26 Starlink satellites, but the booster, meant to be caught at the launch site, instead came apart over the Gulf of Mexico, and the reason is still unknown. Reusability has long been the quiet key to making space affordable, and this flight tested that promise halfway. What comes next, a planned catch of the returning upper stage, will show whether the dream of rockets that fly again can be trusted.
SpaceX Starship Reaches Orbit, but Booster Is Lost Over the Gulf of Mexico, Stalling Full Reuse
Half of that plan worked.
On a Friday from Starbase in South Texas, humanity's largest rocket rose with a bold aim: to bring both of its stages home intact for reuse. The spacecraft reached orbit and began releasing its 26 Starlink satellites, but the booster, meant to be caught at the launch site, instead came apart over the Gulf of Mexico, and the reason is still unknown. Reusability has long been the quiet key to making space affordable, and this flight tested that promise halfway. What comes next, a planned catch of the returning upper stage, will show whether the dream of rockets that fly again can be trusted.
On Friday, from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas, the Starship system, at 124 meters the tallest and most powerful rocket in the world, lifted off on an uncrewed flight with an ambitious plan. For the first time, both its booster and its upper stage were meant to return and be caught, ready to fly again. Only half of that plan came true.
The spacecraft and booster launched cleanly. But on its way back, the booster did not steer toward the launch site as intended. It was diverted to a designated area over the Gulf of Mexico and exploded above the water. SpaceX's Dan Huot said the company does not yet know why the booster could not be brought home.
The upper stage carried on into orbit and began releasing its 26 Starlink satellites, so the commercial payload was delivered regardless.
The spacecraft is due back on Saturday, when mechanical arms at the launch pad will try to catch it. No Starship upper stage has ever been caught, and success would open the way to reusing it.
The stakes are cost. Full reusability is central to SpaceX's effort to bring down the price of spaceflight. Earlier boosters have been recovered, but the upper stages of all 14 previous Starship missions ended in the ocean. Elon Musk expects weekly launches by early 2027, and the program, backed by billions in NASA funding and at least $15 billion of SpaceX's own money, still aims to land astronauts on the Moon by 2028, a target that could slip. For now, two questions remain: whether Saturday's catch succeeds, and what explains the booster's loss.
On Friday, from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas, the biggest rocket ever built left the pad with an ambitious plan: for the first time, both of its stages were supposed to come back and be caught, ready to fly again. Half of that plan worked.
The Starship system stands 124 meters (407 feet) tall, a spacecraft mounted atop a booster, and it is the largest and most powerful rocket system in the world. Both stages were designed from the start to be fully reusable. Friday's flight was uncrewed, though Starship is meant to carry both crew and cargo. Spacecraft and booster lifted off successfully.
The trouble came on the booster's way home. Rather than steering back to the launch site, where it was supposed to be caught, it diverted to a designated area over the Gulf of Mexico and exploded above the sea surface. The reason the controlled return failed was not immediately clear. SpaceX's Dan Huot said the company was not sure yet why it had not been able to bring the booster back.
The upper stage, the spacecraft itself, carried on into orbit. Soon afterward it began releasing the 26 Starlink satellites it was carrying for SpaceX's network, so the mission delivered its commercial payload even without the booster recovery.
The spacecraft is scheduled to return to Earth on Saturday, and that is where the next test lies. The plan is for mechanical arms at the launch pad to catch it as it lands. That has never been done with a Starship upper stage, and a successful catch would open the door to reusing it.
The stakes are about cost. Full reusability is central to SpaceX's aim of driving down the price of spaceflight. Earlier Starship boosters have been recovered successfully, but the upper stages from all 14 previous Starship missions ended up in the ocean, either by design or because something went wrong. Friday's launch was meant to be the first to aim at recovering both stages. SpaceX currently flies mostly its smaller Falcon rockets, which are not fully reusable because their second stage cannot be recovered.
Elon Musk, who owns the company, has said he expects Starship launches to occur once a week by early 2027. The program has drawn billions of dollars in NASA funding, and SpaceX has put in at least $15 billion of its own. Its main goal is to put astronauts on the Moon by 2028, although outstanding technical challenges could push that date back.
What to watch now is twofold: whether the upper stage is caught on Saturday, and what SpaceX concludes about why the booster was lost over the Gulf.
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Not sure right now why we weren't able to bring it back.— Dan Huot, SpaceX
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