HOUSTON, Nov 13, 2026 (Net) – Elon Musk’s SpaceX was poised Friday to
carry out its latest test of the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket,
the Starship, with plans for a groundbreaking “catch” of the spaceship
following a day in orbit.
A successful capture of the Starship upper stage would mark a significant
milestone in the space industry’s decades-long pursuit of fully reusable
spacecraft that can drastically reduce mission costs and make frequent travel
possible.
“If successful, this will mark the first full recovery of an orbital launch
system and a breakthrough moment in making Starship a reliable, rapidly
reusable rocket,” SpaceX said.
For the 15th Starship test flight Friday, SpaceX aims to recover both stages
of the massive 124-meter (407-foot) launch vehicle.
The company has caught the booster, dubbed Super Heavy, on three previous
occasions, with the first stage descending vertically back to the launch site
shortly after blastoff and nestling into mechanical “chopstick” arms.
It will now attempt to do the same with the spaceship. Some versions of the
vessel are designed to launch internet satellites and data centers into
orbit, while others will be made to ferry people to the Moon and Mars.
A spacecraft that can be fully reused is the “Holy Grail” of the space
industry, said Clayton Swope, an aerospace expert at the Center for Strategic
and International Studies.
“No one’s really been able to do that so far,” he said. “People have been
trying to do that since the (NASA) space shuttle. But the space shuttle ended
up being kind of a compromise because a lot of the vehicle wasn’t reusable.”
Reusing the Starship spacecraft would require the vessel to withstand the
extreme heat of reentering Earth’s atmosphere and then return to service
without extensive refurbishment.
– Refueling challenge –
Musk, the world’s richest person, has already revolutionized the space sector
with the partially reusable Falcon rockets, which are regularly employed to
launch satellites and carry astronauts to the International Space Station.
The Starship project, however, has been plagued by years-long delays as
SpaceX grapples with novel engineering challenges — even as NASA is counting
on the spaceship to serve as a lunar lander for its Artemis program.
Other technical challenges include transferring fuel to Starship in orbit —
a requirement for any journey to the Moon or Mars.
Following SpaceX’s high-profile stock market debut in June, the company
carried out the first orbital flight of Starship in September, though the
mission was cut short due to an engine issue.
It is also investing heavily in additional launch sites for its mega-rocket
in Louisiana and Florida.
– Complex capture –
Friday’s launch is scheduled to take place at SpaceX’s “Starbase” in southern
Texas at 4:45 pm (2245 GMT).
Following liftoff and the mid-air separation of the two stages, SpaceX plans
to bring Super Heavy back to Earth six and a half minutes later, catching it
at the launch site on the Gulf of Mexico coastline.
The spaceship will continue to reach Earth’s orbit, where it will deploy 26
satellites into Musk’s Starlink satellite internet constellation that has
become a major revenue stream for SpaceX.
It will then circle the planet 14 times, before returning 22 hours later and
— SpaceX hopes — descending safely into the chopstick arms.
This capture attempt is more complex than that of the booster, as the
spaceship will be descending much faster and from a much greater altitude.
SpaceX has said it would proceed with these maneuvers only if conditions are
optimal, and in the past has made last-minute changes to test flights under
Musk’s “fail fast” strategy of learning through crashes, explosions and other
mishaps.
As of late Thursday, the US Federal Aviation Administration had not yet given
its final approval for the test flight.
