SpaceX Catches Starship After It Comes Home From Orbit

SpaceX caught Starship's upper stage at Starbase on Saturday afternoon. Ship 42 came back from orbit on Flight 15 and settled into the tower's mechanical arms. No orbital rocket's upper stage had been brought home from orbit and caught at the launch site before.

The clip is Everyday Astronaut's Saturday stream of the return. The catch is about an hour and fifteen minutes in.

Ship 42 lifted off Friday at about 4:47 p.m. Central on top of Booster 22. It stayed up roughly 22 and a half hours, about 14 trips around Earth, and released 26 Starlink satellites. SpaceX said the pad and tower were go for the catch. The return was aimed at about 3:20 p.m. Central.

THE BOOSTER DID NOT COME BACK

Friday's plan was to catch both stages. The booster did not make it. SpaceX commentator Dan Huot said it was initially set for a catch, then aborted itself after detecting a guidance and navigation problem and headed for a landing offshore. It came down in the Gulf, and the flight-termination system fired before it hit the water.

Elon Musk said the booster loss does not change the plan for frequent, fully reusable Starship flights.