SpaceX captures Starship upper stage after 22-hour orbital test flight
SpaceX achieved a major milestone on Saturday during Starship’s 15th test flight by catching the rocket’s upper stage for the first time. Following a 22-hour orbital mission in which the craft circled Earth 14 times, the 171-foot (52-meter) bullet-shaped vehicle descended into the grasp of mechanical arms at the company's Texas launch tower.
The mission was originally intended as a historic double catch to recover both stages intact at the launch site. Those plans were curtailed on Friday when the Super Heavy booster was diverted minutes after liftoff and exploded over the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot noted that the vehicle's guidance, navigation, and control system properly triggered a no-go after detecting that the booster was out of position to proceed with a landing attempt.
Despite the booster's loss, the recovery represents critical progress toward full rocket reusability ahead of NASA’s planned 2028 human lunar return, an initiative contracted to SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin. Chief executive Elon Musk has outlined ambitions to increase Starship flights to a weekly and eventually twice-weekly cadence, aiming for airplane-like rapid turnaround to support long-term missions to the Moon and Mars.
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