SpaceX catches Starship upper stage, but misses full two-stage recovery

SpaceX caught Starship’s upper stage at its Starbase launch tower in South Texas on 14 November, a first for the company’s orbital spacecraft. The success came on a mission that fell short of recovering both rocket stages.

Space.com reported that the vehicle known as Ship 42 descended into the tower’s mechanical arms at 4:20 p.m. EST, or 3:20 p.m. local Texas time. That was 4:20 a.m. on 15 November in Bangkok.

Ship returned; Super Heavy did not

Flight 15 had launched on the evening of 13 November. Its Super Heavy booster encountered a low-fuel alarm and diverted to a Gulf of Mexico splashdown instead of returning to the tower. SpaceX therefore did not recover the entire two-stage rocket on this flight.

Ship 42 returned from orbit roughly 22½ hours after launch. The report says it deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites and that images from satellites and ground cameras were used to assess its heat shield before the landing attempt.

SpaceX had previously caught Super Heavy boosters, but bringing the upper stage back from orbit adds a different challenge: it travels higher, farther and faster. Catching Ship is a step towards the company’s planned reuse of both stages. Inspection, refurbishment and an eventual reflight remain separate steps from the catch itself.