AFP reported SpaceX’s Starship reached orbit and launched 26 satellites for Starlink on Flight 15, while a booster issue sent Super Heavy to a Gulf splashdown, leaving the planned dual-stage recovery incomplete.
After the stages separated, Super Heavy was diverted to a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico near Starbase, Texas, AFP reported. Dan Huot of SpaceX said the team had not determined what prevented the booster from returning to the tower. The planned dual-recovery effort called for the tower to retrieve both Super Heavy and Ship, Starship’s upper stage.
About seven hours into the flight, SpaceX said Starship remained in orbit and its heat shield was in good condition. Clayton Swope of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told AFP the flight was a “mixed bag so far,” with Starship reaching orbit but the booster recovery failing. Starship had also reached orbit on its previous test flight.
AFP reported that SpaceX’s reuse plan aims to lower mission costs and enable more frequent launches. NASA plans to use Starship as a lunar lander for Artemis. Orbital fuel transfer remains an engineering challenge for planned journeys to the Moon or Mars, AFP reported.
