SpaceX aborts Starship booster catch; booster comes down in Gulf of Mexico

SpaceX's attempt to catch its Super Heavy booster at the launch tower during a Starship test flight on Friday was aborted. The booster was diverted and ended up in the ocean.

The flight launched from Texas. It aimed to recover the entire rocket, both the booster and the upper stage, in a so-called "double catch". The BBC, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) and the Associated Press (AP) all reported that the booster catch did not succeed. SCMP and AP identify the location as the Gulf of Mexico.

The booster was due to return to the launch pad minutes after lift-off. The BBC gives six and a half minutes. The whole planned flight lasts about 22 hours. The BBC gives 22.5 hours from lift-off to the upper stage's planned return to the tower.

What else is reported

According to SCMP, the booster malfunctioned and its return was ended by an automatic abort. According to the BBC, the booster burst into flames as it came down in the ocean.

The BBC reported that the 124m-tall rocket lifted off from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, at 16:45 local time (22:45 GMT). It described the flight as SpaceX's first attempt to fully recover Starship.

According to the BBC, the upper stage, called the Ship, continued into space, where it is deploying 26 Starlink satellites. It is due to complete 14 orbits. A catch may be attempted at about 15:15 local time (21:15 GMT) on Saturday. SpaceX will decide whether to try. The BBC reported that SpaceX has caught the booster on three earlier flights. The Ship has never been caught by the tower and has instead splashed down in the ocean.

The BBC also reported that SpaceX holds a Nasa contract to turn the Ship into a lunar lander. Blue Origin holds a separate Nasa lander contract. Nasa aims to land humans on the Moon in 2028.

What each side says

A SpaceX spokesperson said during a stream of the launch, according to the BBC: "Safety is always the number one priority, and we're still testing out things that we haven't done before on these vehicles, and so we are prioritising making sure that we can perform each maneuver safely."

The BBC quoted Prof Malcolm Macdonald, President of the Royal Aeronautical Society, as saying: "Full reusability has the potential to fundamentally change the economics of accessing space." He added: "One successful flight will not prove that model, but it could mark an important transition: from demonstrating that Starship can fly, to demonstrating how Starship could operate."

According to the BBC, Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman has said America is in a race with China to reach the Moon.

What the reports do not include

The reports do not include a technical explanation of the abort from SpaceX. They do not describe the outcome of the Ship's flight, or any response from regulators or Nasa.

Analysis

The aborted booster catch does not by itself show how far full reusability is from being achieved. Much depends on the cause, which the reports do not explain. If the Ship is caught on Saturday, the flight could still mark a step that SpaceX has not reached before. If it is not, attention may turn to the timeline for the lunar lander work under SpaceX's Nasa contract. Prof Malcolm Macdonald, quoted by the BBC, cautioned that one successful flight will not prove the economics of reusability. Outcomes for both SpaceX and its competitors remain uncertain.

Produced by the Vocemundi newsroom with AI assistance.

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