A malfunction forced the Super Heavy booster into the ocean, but the upper stage reached orbit ahead of a planned launch pad catch.
SpaceX launched its Starship rocket on its 15th test flight Friday from its Starbase site in south Texas, sending the upper spacecraft into orbit even after a booster malfunction wrecked plans to catch both stages at the launch pad.
The 407-foot rocket lifted off at 5:47 p.m. EST, CBS News reported. The 236-foot-tall Super Heavy booster separated from the spacecraft about two minutes and 20 seconds into flight and turned around to fly back toward the launch pad. A little more than six minutes after liftoff, flight controllers aborted the return because of a technical problem and diverted the booster into the Gulf of Mexico, where it burst into a fireball upon hitting the water.
Upper stage pushes into orbit
While the booster crashed in the Gulf, the 171-foot-tall Starship spacecraft continued flying on its six Raptor engines. It initially followed a sub-orbital path so it could fall harmlessly into the ocean if controllers found problems, but systems checked out clean. Following an 18-minute coast, a single Raptor engine fired for 10 seconds to place the ship into orbit.
Once in orbit, the craft began preparations to release 26 version 3 Starlink internet satellites. PBS NewsHour reported that the flight plan called for the ship to circle Earth at an altitude of around 170 miles before returning for a landing attempt Saturday. Outlets gave slightly different flight profiles: PBS NewsHour stated the plan involves 15 laps around the globe, while BBC News reported the vehicle was due to make 14 orbits.
SpaceX had previously caught Super Heavy boosters using mechanical arms on its launch tower during three separate test flights. However, Friday marked the first time the company flew the upgraded Super Heavy version 3 booster, as well as its first attempt to bring an orbital Starship spacecraft back to the launch gantry.
How Saturday’s catch attempt works
Controllers will evaluate the spacecraft throughout its flight before clearing it to return to Starbase. If the vehicle is damaged or unsafe, SpaceX mapped out oceanic abort zones near Hawaii and several hundred kilometers off the coast of Chile. Flight controllers also have the option to tumble the ship during reentry to destroy it before it flies over land.
If controllers give final approval, a single Raptor engine will fire Saturday afternoon at 3:21 p.m. to push the craft into the atmosphere for a 56-minute reentry. The ship will use four aerodynamic flaps to control its flight across northern Mexico and south Texas. It will loop around cities in the Rio Grande Valley and pass north of South Padre Island toward the Gulf.
Near the launch site, Starship will light three Raptor engines to flip vertical. It will cut two engines and drop slowly between the tower arms, which will close to grab the vehicle out of the air.
Why the mission matters for NASA
Full rocket recovery is essential to SpaceX’s plans to build moon bases and send missions to Mars. The company is developing Starship as a fully reusable system that can fly repeatedly without tossing stages away, unlike its Falcon rockets.
NASA has awarded SpaceX billions of dollars to use a modified Starship to land astronauts on the moon as part of the Artemis program. The space agency wants to land humans on the lunar surface as early as 2028, with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman noting that the United States is in a direct race against China, which aims to put astronauts on the moon by 2030.
NASA is also working with Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin, which holds a contract for its New Glenn rocket and Blue Moon lander. Blue Origin suffered a major setback earlier in the year when a rocket explosion destroyed its Florida launch pad, pushing its return to flight into early 2027. Under current agency planning, Artemis III astronauts will practice docking with both landers in Earth orbit before NASA picks a spacecraft to attempt the lunar landing.
