World Politics
Starship Comes Home: SpaceX Catches Ship 42 at the Tower in a Spaceflight First
SpaceX caught Ship 42 at the Starbase tower at about 4:22 p.m. Eastern on Saturday — the first catch of an orbiting spaceship — ending Flight 15's 22-and-a-half-hour mission. The ship deployed all 26 Starlink V3 satellites on the way. Booster 22, its own catch called off Friday over a guidance issue, ended in the Gulf of Mexico.
STARBASE, Texas — SpaceX caught its Starship upper stage at the launch tower on Saturday, pulling off the first recovery of an orbiting spaceship in history and closing out Flight 15 after 22 and a half hours in space. Ship 42 descended through a cloudy sky and settled between the mechanical “chopstick” arms of the Mechazilla tower at Launch Pad 2, at about 4:22 p.m. Eastern.
Flight 15 lifted off at 5:47 p.m. Eastern on Friday, November 13, from Pad 2 at Starbase, Texas — Ship 42 riding on Booster 22. The ship reached orbit and deployed all 26 of its Starlink V3 satellites before beginning the long coast home.
The return ran on SpaceX's word at every step. The ship got its final go at the last checkpoint, at about 2:29 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. Its deorbit burn followed at about 3:25 p.m. Eastern and burned clean, setting up the descent to the tower. During the flight, SpaceX said the ship and its heat shield stayed healthy.
Agence France-Presse, whose report the desk carried in today's edition, described the ship emerging from a cloudy sky after a cross-continent descent and slipping smoothly between the chopstick arms above the pad — the catch method SpaceX proved with its returning boosters, never before used on a ship coming back from orbit.
The booster tells a different story, and it is reported separately. Booster 22's own tower catch was called off during Friday's ascent: SpaceX's Dan Huot said on the webcast that a guidance, navigation and control issue forced the abort, and Elon Musk said the booster was also slightly low on fuel. The booster diverted to a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico and was not recovered. Only the ship was caught.
The catch is the missing half of SpaceX's reuse plan. A ship that returns to the pad can, in principle, be inspected, refueled and flown again — the model SpaceX says will cut the cost of reaching orbit. Flight 15 was only the second Starship flight to reach orbit, and the first to end with the ship held in the tower's arms.
What is not yet known: the condition of Ship 42 after the catch, and whether it will fly again. SpaceX had not published a full post-flight report as this story closed. The desk will update when it does.
Reporting based on: SpaceX (official webcast and X); NASASpaceflight live coverage; Agence France-Presse via Philippine Daily Inquirer. The facts come from the credited reporting; the words are our desk’s own.
Read the original reporting