Starship booster does not land at Starbase; SpaceX crashes it into the Gulf

SpaceX plans tower catch of returning Starship upper stage

SpaceX conducted a major test of its Starship rocket Friday night, launching the largest rocket ever built from Starbase, Texas, and sending it into orbit with 26 satellites for the Starlink constellation, SpaceX’s satellite internet network, NPR reported.

The rocket’s booster, which returned from the launch, was supposed to land at Starbase but did not. “There was some sort of problem, and they crashed it into the Gulf,” NPR’s Geoff Brumfiel told host Scott Simon. The Gulf of Mexico crash came after the booster’s descent, and Brumfiel noted that the Starship upper stage itself could still end up in the Gulf or elsewhere if its return does not go as planned.

The upper stage remained in orbit after deployment. “The rocket is very happily orbiting the Earth,” Brumfiel said. The plan, assuming all goes well, was for the vehicle to reenter the atmosphere in a few hours, fly back to Starbase, turn itself vertical and hover at the launch site, while two mechanical arms on the launch tower reach out and grab it.

That catch would be unprecedented, Brumfiel said. “Nobody’s ever really caught a rocket in midair after it’s come back from space before,” he said. “This is a super ambitious, very difficult plan.” A successful catch, he said, “is going to be a huge step.”

The stakes for SpaceX are commercial. The company wants Starship to launch potentially thousands of satellites for Starlink and, someday, orbital data centers into space. Both are key to SpaceX’s plans for revenue growth, Brumfiel said, and both depend on Starship becoming rapidly reusable. The concept is that the booster and the rocket fly back to the tower, get caught, get restacked and refueled, take on more satellites, and launch again very quickly.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell described the trade-off in an appearance at the All-In Summit in September. “Falcon 9 with a Dragon capsule on top is like a minivan,” Shotwell said. “The road trip to Mars is six months, so you don’t want to be in the minivan.”

The retirement of Falcon 9 has consequences for NASA, Brumfiel reported. Falcon 9 is currently the only American vehicle NASA can use to reach the International Space Station, and the space agency has enough Falcon 9 launches to last through 2028 — while crew is scheduled to remain on the station until 2030. NASA might have to find another ride for its astronauts.

Shotwell suggested Boeing’s capsule as an alternative, saying SpaceX would let Boeing have some business because the government paid a lot of money for it. That Boeing capsule has been plagued by technical issues and is not ready for humans yet, Brumfiel said. He reported that SpaceX is making the move because its NASA contracts are not really worth that much to it anymore; the satellite internet business and the potential data centers stand to earn the company far more money.

Brumfiel, who said he had been reporting on the Falcon 9 question during the week, added that SpaceX is now a public company and is burning billions on Starship’s development. As the upper stage returned to Earth, he said, he would be watching the landing — and what shareholders count as a success.