The answer to life, the universe, and everything is 42. Turns out, it was also the answer to catching a Starship, too.
SpaceX made history on Saturday, recovering a Starship upper stage from orbit for the first time. The chopstick arms of the Mechazills launch tower plucked Ship 42 out of the air in Starbase, Texas at 4:20pm ET.
Flight 15 lifted off from Starbase at 5:47pm ET Friday, deploying its payload and completing 14 orbits before heading home.
More than 22 hours after liftoff, Ship relit a single Raptor engine to exit orbit, then flew back toward the Texas coast. It made a final “swoosh” maneuver over the Gulf, broke through the clouds, and lit three Raptors for a landing flip and slow descent into the tower’s waiting arms.
“We caught a Starship,” SpaceX Communications Manager Dan Huot said, ending the marathon 23-hour livestream. “And now everything changes.”
Catch 42: Catching the upper stage unlocks the next step toward full reusability for Starship. Now that Ship 42 came home intact, it could—in theory—fly again.
- On SpaceX’s Q3 earnings call, CEO Elon Musk said the goal is to “immediately land the rocket and launch it again, just like an airplane.”
- He also said at the time that he expects to reach weekly Starship flights at some point in the first half of 2027.
Ship 42 also carried a couple of Easter eggs, including “Don’t Panic” on the rocket—-nod to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy—-and a heat-shield tile signed and installed by YouTuber MrBeast.
The one that got away: Super Heavy Booster 22 never made it to the tower, denying SpaceX its first double catch.
- The booster relit only 32 of its 33 Raptors for the boostback burn, which ended early because of low fuel mass.
- Its guidance system then triggered an automated abort and diverted the booster offshore, where it hovered over the Gulf before its flight termination system was triggered, SpaceX said.
SpaceX is still investigating the root cause of the anomaly.
Cargo: During its voyage, Ship deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites, matching Flight 14’s haul in September. SpaceX reported that it made contact with every satellite, and all have begun raising their orbits to join the constellation.
On the same earnings call, President and COO Gwynne Shotwell said the company aims to “refly the second stage by early next year, and ramp our launch cadence as we make progress towards rapid reusability.”
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