Technology and Scienceupdated 2h ago3 min read
MapSpaceX Captures Starship Flight 15 With Mechazilla Arms After Orbit Return
“It felt like stepping into the future.”
“But the company must still master another, arguably more complicated, operation”
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Upper stage captured midair by Mechazilla arms at Starbase after orbit return. Flight 15 lasted about 22 hours in orbit before capture.
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First tower catch
SpaceX returned Starship Flight 15 to its launch pad on South Padre Island on Saturday afternoon after Friday’s mission and orbit around Earth, with the spacecraft caught midair by the launch tower arms dubbed "Mechazilla." SpaceX said the goal of the return mission was to establish a reusable system of spacecraft equipment, and SpaceX officials told ABC13 that the vehicle was most likely to be retired and possibly put on display at the facility in Starbase, Texas. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk congratulated his "incredible team" after Starship slipped smoothly between mechanical "chopstick arms" above Launch Pad 2 in Texas, marking the first-ever capture of a Starship flying back from space.
SpaceX reported that everything on the spacecraft, including its vital heat shield, appeared to work well, while SpaceX said the first-stage booster exploding shortly after Friday’s liftoff meant the company fell short of its desired double catch. SpaceX’s Kate Tice said its engines stopped firing too soon on the way back down, and SpaceX said the booster’s guidance system sensed it was not in the right position and automatically initiated the watery detour and self-destruction.
What SpaceX says happened
SpaceX said the Super Heavy booster auto-aborted the crash attempt due to a guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) issue, and SpaceX said the booster automatically diverted to the Gulf and then activated its Flight Termination System (FTS). SpaceX Communications Manager Dan Huot told Payload Space, "We caught a Starship," and the same source said the catch ended the marathon 23-hour livestream. SpaceX’s Kate Tice said, "Early indications are that the booster ended its boost back early due to a low fuel mass alarm," and she said the booster appropriately and autonomously followed safety protocols and protected the pad.
Ars Technica described the capture as a moment when the Starship upper stage was snagged by the launch tower, as snug as you like, after two nubs on either side of the rocket provided the only purchase the rocket would have on the arms. SpaceX said the booster’s guidance system detected it was not positioned correctly for a tower catch, so it diverted the booster toward the sea, and engineers were still investigating the cause.
Next steps and stakes
SpaceX said the capture demonstrates Starship’s full reusability, crucial for rapid, low-cost recycling, but SpaceX still had not recovered both stages in a single mission after the booster’s watery detour and self-destruction. SpaceX said Starship completed 14 laps around the Earth, 265km (165 miles), and deployed 26 advanced Starlink satellites, while SpaceX reported that the spacecraft’s heat shield appeared to work well. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman welcomed the achievement, saying, "It was almost magic," and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said on X that the catch brought the program "one step closer" to returning Americans to the Moon.
“‘It was almost magic,’ NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said on X.”
SpaceX’s Dan Huot said at the conclusion of the mission livestream, "We caught a Starship and now everything changes," and SpaceX said the next challenge would be to assess the spacecraft’s condition and demonstrate that it can be prepared for another launch. SpaceX’s Kate Tice said SpaceX’s ultimate goal was to immediately land the rocket and launch it again, just like an airplane, and SpaceX said it had extensively studied and modified the heat shield tiles in the hope they will not need to be replaced between flights.