Despite a booster explosion on Friday, SpaceX achieved a major milestone on Saturday by successfully catching Starship’s upper stage, or spacecraft, as it returned intact from orbit.
The spacecraft was captured using a pair of mechanical arms, nicknamed “chopsticks,” mounted on the launch tower at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas, CNBC reported. Loud cheers erupted as Starship’s upper-stage spacecraft, known as the “Ship,” was successfully secured by the launchpad’s mechanical arms.
The successful recovery marked a significant moment for the company’s ambitious Starship programme. During Test Flight 15, its most ambitious trial yet, SpaceX attempted for the first time to catch both the rocket’s booster and upper stage using the tower’s mechanical arms.
During the initial phase of Friday’s test flight, SpaceX was unable to catch the booster for recovery and instead redirected it toward an offshore landing in the Gulf of Mexico. The booster burst into flames before reaching the water.
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Meanwhile, the rocket’s upper stage continued its journey into orbit, completing 14 trips around Earth before successfully returning to land on SpaceX’s launch tower, known as Mechazilla.
SpaceX expands its Starlink network
During Friday’s Test Flight 15, SpaceX deployed an additional 26 of its latest Starlink v3 satellites into orbit, further expanding its satellite internet constellation.
The company’s network already consisted of more than 11,000 satellites in low Earth orbit. According to SpaceX, a single Starship rocket has the capacity to transport up to 60 Starlink v3 satellites in one launch.
Elon Musk’s ambitious vision for Starship
SpaceX has spent the last decade recovering and reusing the first-stage boosters of its smaller Falcon 9 rockets across multiple missions. However, the rockets’ upper stages continue to be discarded after each launch.
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SpaceX also plans to deploy Starship for NASA missions, transporting astronauts and cargo between lunar orbit and the Moon’s surface. Beyond lunar exploration, Elon Musk envisions the spacecraft as a key part of his ambition to “colonize Mars” and “make humanity multi-planetary.”