SpaceX’s Starship made a triumphant return to Earth on Saturday, caught in mid-air by the launch tower’s giant mechanical arms where its journey began more than 22 hours earlier — the first-ever SpaceX Starship catch of a spacecraft flying back from space.
The bullet-shaped spacecraft lowered itself upright at the launch pad at Starbase in Texas, completing a flight that SpaceX had billed as its boldest test yet. The company had hoped to catch both stages of the rocket on the same mission, but the first-stage booster was lost shortly after Friday’s lift-off, exploding over the Gulf of Mexico when its own catch attempt was aborted.
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- Starship’s 15th test flight lifted off from Starbase, Texas, at 5:47 p.m. ET on Friday, 13 November 2026.
- The upper-stage spacecraft, Ship 42, spent more than 22 hours in orbit and completed 14 laps around Earth.
- It deployed 26 advanced Starlink V3 satellites before steering back to the launch tower.
- The catch took place on Saturday afternoon, when the tower’s mechanical arms — known as Mechazilla — plucked the spacecraft from the sky.
- The Super Heavy booster was lost: its catch was aborted and it exploded over the Gulf of Mexico.
- At 407 feet (124 metres), Starship is the world’s largest and most powerful rocket.
Why the SpaceX Starship catch matters
SpaceX officials said Saturday’s catch demonstrates the full reusability of Starship, the rocket intended to carry people to the Moon and Mars. Catching a returning spacecraft with the launch tower means it can be inspected, refuelled and flown again quickly, instead of being discarded or fished out of the sea.
“Can you believe it?” shouted SpaceX commentator Dan Huot as the spacecraft settled into the tower’s arms. SpaceX announced the moment on X with the words: “Mechazilla catches Starship! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on this incredible achievement!”
NASA welcomed the news. The space agency is paying billions of dollars for Starship to land Artemis astronauts on the Moon later this decade and to help build a permanent lunar base.
A 22-hour flight around the world
The 407-foot rocket blasted off late on Friday afternoon from SpaceX’s Starbase near the US-Mexican border. Separating neatly from its booster before things went awry, the upper-stage spacecraft soared into orbit and released 26 advanced Starlink satellites.
Starship continued circling the world 165 miles (265 kilometres) up, with live views of itself and Earth streaming down via Starlink. The spacecraft completed 14 laps around Earth, far more than the one to two laps of previous missions. It was SpaceX’s 15th flight of a full-scale Starship since 2023 and only its second trip to orbit.
SpaceX reported that everything on the spacecraft, including its vital heat shield, appeared to work well during the long flight.
The booster was lost, but the technique is proven
The mission fell short of the double catch SpaceX had hoped for. The Super Heavy booster’s engines stopped firing too soon on the way back down, SpaceX’s Kate Tice said. Its guidance system sensed it was not in the right position and automatically initiated the watery detour and self-destruction.
The Super Heavy booster explodes over the Gulf of Mexico after its catch attempt was aborted on Friday. (Eric Gay/AP)
Wreckage remained in the Gulf of Mexico, cordoned off by buoys, as engineers investigate the cause. Although Friday’s booster recovery failed, the company had already made three previous booster catches, validating the technique.
What the catch means for the Moon and Mars
SpaceX expects to begin launching Starships from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center within the next few months. That is the starting point for NASA’s next Artemis mission, which will skip the Moon and remain in orbit around Earth for lunar lander practice.
Artemis III’s four astronauts will attempt to dock their capsule with not only Starship but Blue Origin’s Blue Moon. The two companies will take turns delivering crews to the lunar surface. NASA is targeting as soon as 2028 for Artemis IV, humanity’s first Moon landing since the Apollo era more than half a century ago.
Elon Musk’s ambitions are even grander: he wants to launch a fleet of Starships to build a city on Mars. Saturday’s catch brought that goal one step closer.
