SpaceX launches Starship, booster fails to return

SpaceX successfully launched its Starship spacecraft into orbit but did not recover the booster rocket as planned.

Launch and booster failure

The company, owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, is hoping to develop a fully reusable rocket system. It had planned to recover both the booster and the upper stage, which is the spacecraft itself.

Instead of landing back at the launch site, the booster exploded above the Gulf of Mexico. The upper stage is currently in orbit and the plan is to recover it on Saturday when it returns to Earth.

At the launch, both the spacecraft and booster successfully lifted off from the SpaceX South Texas Starbase site. While the Friday launch was an uncrewed mission, Starship is designed to carry both crew and cargo.

On its return path, the booster diverted from its flight path to the launch site and steered to a designated area over the Gulf of Mexico where it exploded over the sea surface. The reasons for the failure of the controlled landing were not immediately clear.

"Not sure right now why we weren't able to bring it back," SpaceX's Dan Huot said.

The upper stage continued into orbit and soon after began releasing the 26 satellites it was carrying.

Reusable rocket goals

Developing a fully reusable rocket system is key to SpaceX’s goal to drive down the cost of spaceflight.

In previous launches, the Starship booster was successfully recovered. The upper stages of the 14 previous Starship missions have all ended up in the ocean though, either by design or because of failures.

The new objective of Friday’s launch was to recover both stages of the Starship launch system.

Currently, SpaceX is mostly using smaller Falcon rockets, which are not fully reusable because the second stage cannot be recovered.

Musk said he expected SpaceX to conduct Starship launches once a week by early 2027.

The project has received billions of dollars in NASA funding, with SpaceX also investing at least $15 billion.

The main goal of the program is to put astronauts on the Moon by 2028 although outstanding technical challenges could delay that schedule.

Why it matters

The booster failure means SpaceX did not achieve its goal of recovering both stages of the Starship launch system on this flight. The upper stage remains in orbit and is scheduled to return to Earth on Saturday, where it is to be caught by mechanical arms upon landing back at the launch pad, marking the first time the spacecraft would be caught after returning to Earth.

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Sources

• mashable.com: SpaceX Starship landing livestream: Watch the catch attempt live | Mashable
• dw.com: SpaceX launches Starship rocket, fails to recover booster

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.