SpaceX's Starship has made a successful return to Earth, caught in mid-air by giant mechanical arms in a grand finale that Elon Musk and his team were hoping for. It marked the first-ever capture of a Starship flying back from space.
Despite this, the first-stage booster exploded shortly after Friday's lift-off from Texas, meaning that the company fell short of its desired double catch. Wreckage remained in the Gulf of Mexico, cordoned off by buoys, as the stainless steel, bullet-shaped spacecraft lowered itself upright at the launch pad.
A Triumphant Catch
“Can you believe it?” SpaceX commentator Dan Huot shouted, dragging out each word. “Look at her! Baby, she's back!” Soon afterward, Mr Musk congratulated his “incredible team”.
SpaceX reported that everything on the spacecraft, including its vital heat shield, appeared to work well. Officials said Saturday's catch demonstrates the full reusability of Starship, intended for Moon and Mars travel. Although Friday's booster recovery failed, the company had already made three previous booster catches, validating the technique.
Nasa and Mars Ambitions
Nasa welcomed the news, with the space agency paying billions of dollars for Starship to land Artemis astronauts on the Moon later this decade and help build a permanent lunar base there. Elon Musk says he eventually wants to launch a fleet of Starships to build a city on Mars.
Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman said via X: “It was almost magic. Making more believers by the day … one step closer to (emojis of the moon and the US flag).”
Flight Details and Next Steps
The world's largest and most powerful rocket — a 407ft behemoth — blasted off late Friday afternoon from SpaceX's Starship base near the US-Mexico border. The upper-stage spacecraft soared into orbit and released 26 advanced Starlink satellites.
Starship continued circling the world 165 miles up, offering up live views of itself and Earth streaming down via Starlink - it completed 14 laps around Earth, outshining the previous mission's one to two laps. It was SpaceX's 15th flight of a full-scale Starship since 2023 and its only second trip to orbit. As for the booster, SpaceX's Kate Tice said its engines stopped firing too soon on the way back down.
The booster's guidance system sensed it wasn't in the right position and automatically initiated the watery detour and self-destruction. Engineers are still investigating the cause. SpaceX expects to begin launching Starships from Florida's Kennedy Space Centre 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.
