SpaceX Catches Starship Upper Stage With Tower Arms for the First Time
Starship Flight 15 put 26 Starlink satellites into orbit and its upper stage was caught by the launch tower, though the booster catch failed.
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SpaceX has caught a Starship upper stage with the mechanical arms of its launch tower for the first time, Al Jazeera reported, citing AP and Reuters. The spacecraft was snagged in midair at Launch Pad 2 in Starbase, Texas, on Saturday, 14 November, about 22 hours after it lifted off.
The flight
The mission, Starship’s 15th test flight, took off from Starbase on Friday, 13 November. It was the company’s second trip to orbit, and the spacecraft circled the Earth 14 times before coming home. After separating from its booster, the ship released 26 advanced Starlink satellites.
Booster catch fails
The other half of the plan did not work. The Super Heavy booster’s guidance system found it was in the wrong position and set off a self-destruct over water. SpaceX said the engines had shut down too early and engineers were looking into why. The company had caught boosters on three earlier flights.
Reaction
Elon Musk congratulated his team after the catch, and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said on X that it “was almost magic”. SpaceX said the catch shows the vehicle can be fully reused. According to the report, the heat shield and other systems appeared to perform well.
What comes next
SpaceX expects to begin launching Starships from Kennedy Space Center in Florida within the next few months. NASA is paying for Starship to land Artemis astronauts on the Moon later this decade.
Featured image: SpaceX Starbase launch facility (51438071556) by Lars Plougmann from United States, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Sources
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