Starship Reached Orbit, but SpaceX Did Not Catch Its Booster
The news agency dpa reports that SpaceX reached Earth orbit with a Starship upper stage on Nov. 13, 2026, and did not recover the Super Heavy booster that carried it off the Starbase launch site in southern Texas. The upper stage separated, entered orbit and deployed satellites for Elon Musk's Starlink internet service; the booster made a controlled splashdown shortly after liftoff instead of being caught by the launch tower.
Both stages are designed to be reusable, and the company had hoped to catch both of them on this flight for the first time, using mechanical arms attached to the launch tower. NASA plans to use Starship to send astronauts to the moon, and SpaceX hopes eventually to reach Mars.
The German news agency dpa notes that SpaceX did not immediately say what caused the failed recovery attempt. The company had caught the booster on three previous test flights.
The upper stage was expected to complete around 14 orbits over roughly 24 hours before returning to the launch site, where SpaceX planned to catch it with the tower's mechanical arms. Such a recovery has never been attempted before.
On the previous test flight, in September, Starship reached Earth orbit for the first time before making a controlled splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The full rocket stands around 120 meters tall.
