SpaceX catches Starship at Texas launch tower in first chopstick recovery
SpaceX recovered its Starship spacecraft at Launch Pad 2 in Texas on Saturday, guiding the vehicle between mechanical “chopstick” arms after its longest orbital flight so far. The ship had launched Friday from the same tower and, on its 15th test of the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket system, completed 14 orbits of Earth in more than 22 hours while deploying 26 Starlink satellites. SpaceX commentator Dan Huot hailed the first catch of the system’s main vessel in the company’s decade-long push for a fully reusable rocket.
NASA, which is paying billions of dollars for Starship to land Artemis astronauts on the Moon later this decade and help build a permanent lunar base, welcomed the milestone. Administrator Jared Isaacman called the landing “almost magic” on X. Elon Musk has framed Starship as central to SpaceX’s satellite business and to putting people on the Moon and eventually Mars.
SpaceX also meant to catch the Super Heavy booster, but that recovery was aborted. The lower stage exploded over the Gulf of Mexico shortly after Friday’s launch after its engines stopped firing too soon; Kate Tice said the guidance system sensed it was out of position and triggered self-destruction. Engineers are still investigating. SpaceX had caught Super Heavy on three earlier tests; reuse of both stages is meant to cut the cost of spaceflight.
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