SpaceX’s Starship returns from orbit, caught by launch pad arms in dramatic first
Also reported by Al Jazeera, CBS News, Guardian World, BBC World, PBS NewsHour, France24
Summary
SpaceX’s Starship completed 14 orbits and returned to its launch site in Texas, where mechanical arms caught the spacecraft on Saturday. The first-stage booster failed to return, but SpaceX said the spacecraft’s systems, including its heat shield, appeared to work well.Key Facts
- Starship launched from SpaceX’s base in Texas late Friday and separated from its first-stage booster.
- The spacecraft released 26 Starlink satellites while in orbit.
- Starship orbited Earth 14 times at an altitude of about 165 miles (265 kilometers).
- Mechanical arms on the launch tower caught the spacecraft as it returned upright to the launch pad.
- The booster’s engines stopped firing too soon during its return, and its guidance system triggered a detour over the Gulf of Mexico and self-destruction.
- SpaceX said the spacecraft’s systems, including its heat shield, appeared to work well.
- NASA is paying SpaceX to develop Starship to land Artemis astronauts on the moon.
- SpaceX expects to begin Starship launches from Kennedy Space Center in Florida within the next few months.
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