SpaceX launched Starship on a 22-hour test flight from South Texas, targeting the first-ever double capture of both rocket stages using the launch tower’s robotic arms.
SpaceX launched its 236-foot-tall Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, at 5:47 p.m. EST, according to CBS News.
The mission marked the 15th test flight of the orbital-class megarocket, which stands at an overall height of 407 feet, as reported by the Associated Press. Flight 15 followed the success of Flight 14 in September, which reached orbit and deployed operational Starlink satellites before concluding early due to a Starship engine issue.
SpaceX has just officially received regulatory approval from the FAA for Starship flight 15. Launch is a go for today! This is the first time SpaceX will attempt to return both the booster and the ship to the launch site for catch. If successful, this will mark the first full… pic.twitter.com/ONkuN9KIkn
Booster Catch Attempt Fails in Texas
Flight controllers ordered an automatic abort for the first-stage Super Heavy booster a little more than six minutes after liftoff, sending it down into the Gulf of Mexico instead of returning the 33-engine vehicle to the Texas pad, as detailed by CBS News and the Associated Press. The booster experienced a malfunction during its return burn, preventing the planned precision capture by the launch tower’s mechanical arms.
Instead of being caught tail first by the giant mechanical arms on the launch gantry, the rocket made a splashdown off the Texas Gulf Coast and promptly burst into flames, according to CBS News. The Federal Aviation Administration monitored all activities associated with the conduct of the licensed launch and reentry.
Just hours ahead of the liftoff, the Federal Aviation Administration issued the necessary launch license after SpaceX demonstrated in its application that there would be a less than one in a million chance of a casualty, meeting a requirement that the company also fulfilled prior to its 2025 launch test.
Despite the setback with the booster, the bullet-shaped spacecraft continued on its trajectory toward orbit, as reported by the Associated Press.
Starship Upper Stage Targets Orbit
Once in orbit, Starship was scheduled to complete 15 laps around the world at an altitude of about 170 miles before heading back to the launch site, according to the Associated Press.
Flight controllers planned to execute a single Raptor engine fire to lower the far side of the orbit deep into the atmosphere for a 56-minute belly-first re-entry, as reported by CBS News. During this reentry, Starship alters its flight path by moving its four control flaps.
SpaceX planned to attempt the first-ever launch pad catch of the Starship upper stage on Saturday afternoon, subject to health checks approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, as noted by CBS News and Mashable. Spectators and visitors gathered in South Texas, including Randall Folsom traveling from elsewhere in the state, to witness the historic operations unfold at Starbase.
Reusability Drives Rocket Economics
Developing a fully reusable rocket is considered the holy grail of rocketry by SpaceX, opening the door to rapid turnaround times similar to commercial aviation, according to CBS News and ABC News. Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society, said this to ABC News.
The cheap part of a launch, relatively speaking, is the fuel. And so being able to do reusability, particularly quickly, with a minimum of refurbishment, allows you to really drive down the cost of launching things into space and allows you to increase the amount of stuff you can send into space, which SpaceX has really been leaning into
Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society
Austin Spiegel, a former SpaceX engineer who serves as the CEO of Sift, said that catching such a massive rocket is a step toward achieving full reusability. Meanwhile, Joseph Gonzalez, an aerospace engineering student at the University of Illinois, said that landing Starship is risky because adding landing gear packs extra weight onto a vehicle.
Scaled-up infrastructure, combined with full rocket reusability, is ‘how you go from zero launches to 10 to 100 to 1,000 to 10,000 to 100,000.’
Kiko Dontchev, vice president of launch
NASA and Commercial Partners Prepare for Future Missions
NASA is counting on a variant of Starship to serve as a lunar lander for the Artemis program to return astronauts to the lunar surface in 2028, as reported by The New York Times and CBS News. Because Starship development has taken longer than expected, the space agency is hedging its bets and remains open to using Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 2 lander depending on which spacecraft is ready first.
At the same time, the space agency relies heavily on SpaceX’s smaller Falcon 9 rockets and Dragon capsules to transport crews to the International Space Station, according to NPR and the Associated Press.
“Because Dragon has become such a successful and reliable vehicle, it became the de facto way for astronauts to get to orbit,” said Caleb Henry, director of research at Quilty Space. for astronauts to reach orbit because it has proven to be such a successful and reliable vehicle.
Starship is preparing for catch Flight 15 is targeting to launch as early as Friday, November 13, pending regulatory approval → https://t.co/K5XRci6bnw pic.twitter.com/WS2xGLjVsx
While SpaceX ramps up Starship operations for Starlink V3 deployments and future deep-space transport, company statements indicate plans to eventually wind down Falcon flights once Starship achieves a high launch rate, as noted by NPR.
“Once Starship is flying reliably several times per week, it makes sense to shift super scarce SpaceX engineering and production resources to Starship to get launch rate to several times per day, which means winding down Falcon,” Elon Musk said. The Federal Aviation Administration granted the license for the Starship Flight 15 launch just hours ahead of the flight, according to Tesla Oracle.
Starship performs its orbital insertion burn and enters orbit of Earth for the second time pic.twitter.com/U8tAqw0yHz
Earlier coverage: SpaceX Targets November 13 for Starship Flight 15 Tower Catch Attempt
Go for orbit! Starship will soon perform a short burn with a single Raptor engine to enter an ~275 km orbit of Earth pic.twitter.com/xSzBAnH7re
