SpaceX caught its Starship spacecraft at its Texas launch site during Flight 15, a partial recovery milestone for the U.S. company’s reusable-rocket program after its booster diverted offshore.
Starship returned to Starbase on Nov. 14 and was caught by the launch tower’s mechanical arms, the company said. SpaceX marked the event with the post, “Mechazilla catches Starship!”
Flight 15 aimed to return both Starship and its Super Heavy booster to the tower, according to SpaceX’s mission page. The spacecraft made it back, but the booster did not. The planned dual-stage recovery effort called for both vehicles to reach the Texas site. SpaceX said recovering both stages would support its work to make Starship reliable to reuse.
SpaceX attributed the boostback burn’s early end to low fuel mass. The booster’s guidance, navigation and control system triggered an automated abort, redirecting it to an offshore landing area. The company said it was investigating the root cause.
SpaceX also said all 26 Starlink V3 satellites deployed during Flight 15 reached orbit. Before launch, the company’s plan listed an orbit of about 275 kilometers, roughly 14 Earth orbits and a flight lasting more than 22 hours. Euronews later reported that Starship completed 14 orbits over a 22-hour journey.
SpaceX’s mission page says three earlier V1 boosters had been caught, and two later flew again. The company gave no date for a finding on the booster’s diversion.
