SpaceX Snags Starship's Top Half Out of the Sky in a First
SpaceX caught the upper stage of its Starship rocket as it came back to Earth on Saturday, a first for the company. Crowds at the Texas launch site cheered as the Ship was grabbed, while the booster catch a day earlier was called off and ended in flames over the ocean.
- 2 sources report it: X account @WatcherGuru, bbc.co.uk.
- The source published it on Nov 14, 2026 at 9:28 PM.
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SpaceX plucked the top part of its Starship rocket out of the sky as it returned to Earth on Saturday, the first time the company has caught that section of the vehicle. Known as the Ship, it came back a few minutes behind schedule at around 15:27 local time (21:27 GMT) and was successfully caught. Crowds at the Texas launch site erupted, with a commentator asking: 'Can you believe it?'
It was supposed to be a double grab. SpaceX had hoped to catch both the bottom and upper stages with the mechanical arms on its launch tower, nicknamed chopsticks. But the booster's catch was aborted a few minutes after Friday's launch, and the booster was diverted to the ocean, bursting into flames just above the sea.
That left the Ship to fly the return alone, and it stuck the landing. Saturday's catch marks the first time SpaceX has recovered the rocket's upper stage this way, after pulling off the manoeuvre only with the lower booster in previous attempts.
TopicsSpaceX · Starship · Ship · Texas · chopsticks · booster
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