SpaceX’s Starship returns from orbit, caught by launch pad arms in dramatic first
It was the grand finale that Elon Musk and his team hoped for.
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Musk → return → that
SpaceX’s Starship made a triumphant return to Earth on Saturday, caught in midair by giant mechanical arms where its journey began 22 hours earlier.
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journey → make → arms
It was the grand finale that Elon Musk and his team hoped for — the first-ever capture of a Starship flying back from space.
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Musk → hop → space
But with the first-stage booster exploding shortly after Friday’s liftoff from Texas, the company fell short of its desired double catch.
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company → explode → catch
Wreckage remained in the Gulf of Mexico, cordoned off by buoys, as the stainless steel, bullet-shaped spacecraft lowered itself upright at the launch pad.
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spacecraft → remain → pad
The dramatic, sci-fi-like capture helped blot out the booster’s messy miss.
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capture → blot → miss
Cameras panned the spacecraft up and down as it hung hgh above the ground, supported by the arms of the launch tower.
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it → pan → tower
“Can you believe it?” SpaceX commentator Dan Huot shouted, dragging out each word.
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Huot → believe → word
Baby, she’s back!”
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she → ’ → ?
SpaceX officials said Saturday’s catch demonstrates the full reusability of Starship, intended for moon and Mars travel.
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catch → say → travel
Although Friday’s booster recovery failed, the company had already made three previous booster catches, validating the technique.
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company → fail → technique
NASA welcomed Saturday’s news.
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NASA → welcome → news
The space agency is paying billions of dollars for Starship to land Artemis astronauts on the moon later this decade and help build a permanent lunar base.
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Starship → pay → base
Musk’s ambitions are even grander: He wants to launch a fleet of Starships to build a city on Mars.
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He → want → Mars
“It was almost magic,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said via X.
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Isaacman → say → ?
The world’s largest and most powerful rocket — a 407-foot (124-meter) behemoth — blasted off late Friday afternoon from SpaceX’s Starship base near the U.S.-Mexican border.
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rocket → blast → border
Separating neatly from its booster before things went awry, the upper-stage spacecraft soared into orbit and released 26 advanced Starlink satellites.
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spacecraft → separate → satellites
Starship continued circling the world 165 miles (265 kilometers) up, with live views of itself and Earth streaming down via Starlink.
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views → continue → Starlink
The spacecraft completed 14 laps around Earth, outshining the previous mission’s one to two laps.
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spacecraft → complete → laps
SpaceX reported that everything on the spacecraft, including its vital heat shield, appeared to work well.
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everything → report → shield
As for the booster, SpaceX’s Kate Tice said its engines stopped firing too soon on the way back down.
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engines → say → way
The booster’s guidance system sensed it wasn’t in the right position and automatically initiated the watery detour and self-destruction.
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it → sense → detour
Engineers are still investigating the cause.
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Engineers → investigate → cause
SpaceX expects to begin launching Starships from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center within the next few months.
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SpaceX → expect → months
That is the starting point for NASA’s next Artemis mission, which will skip the moon and remain in orbit around Earth for lunar lander practice.
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which → skip → practice
Artemis III’s four astronauts will attempt to dock their capsule with not only Starship but Blue Origin’s Blue Moon.
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astronauts → attempt → Starship
The two companies will take turns delivering crews to the lunar surface.
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companies → take → surface
NASA is targeting as soon as 2028 for Artemis IV, humanity’s first moon landing since the Apollo era more than half a century ago.
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NASA → target → era
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The Associated Press’ health and science coverage receives financial support from the AP Fund for Journalism and private foundations.
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coverage → receive → Journalism
The Aporia
