TLDR
- SpaceX caught the Starship upper stage with tower arms in Texas after a 22-hour flight.
- The ship made 14 laps of Earth and released 26 Starlink v3 satellites.
- The Super Heavy booster was sent to the Gulf of Mexico and exploded before hitting the water.
- The launch happened during a nationwide FAA ground stop.
- Starlink already has more than 11,000 satellites in low Earth orbit.
SpaceX caught the upper stage of its Starship rocket on Saturday after a 22-hour trip around Earth. The ship returned to its launch tower in Starbase, Texas.
JUST IN: Elon Musk's SpaceX $SPCX successfully catches Starship rocket at launch tower for the first time in history. pic.twitter.com/0zEbz8dzIV
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) November 14, 2026
The ship made 14 laps of the planet before coming back. A landing like this has never been tried in the history of rocketry.
Inside the 22-hour flight
Test Flight 15 lifted off at 5:47 p.m. ET on Friday. It was the first time SpaceX tried to catch both the booster and the ship.
Mechazilla catches Starship! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on this incredible achievement! pic.twitter.com/YJzmGUZb2B
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 14, 2026
The ship is 171 feet tall and sits on top of the Super Heavy booster. Together they form the full Starship launch system.
Once in orbit, the ship released 26 of the newest Starlink v3 satellites. They joined a network that already had more than 11,000 satellites in low Earth orbit.
SpaceX has said one Starship can carry up to 60 Starlink v3 satellites. Starlink is currently the company’s main profit center.
After its 14 orbits, the ship flew back to Texas. Mechanical arms on the tower, called chopsticks, grabbed it out of the air.
The tower is nicknamed Mechazilla. Elon Musk posted a video on X showing an inspection of the ship after the catch.
The booster miss and flight disruptions
The first phase of the flight did not go as planned. SpaceX tried to guide the Super Heavy booster back to the same tower, but the catch did not work.
The company sent the booster to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico instead. It exploded before it hit the water.
The launch took place during a nationwide ground stop issued by the FAA. The agency cited telecommunications system failures.
Rockets rely on different tracking and navigation equipment than aircraft. The ground stop has since been lifted.
Hawaii’s Department of Transportation also paused some West Coast flights on Friday because of debris risk. That order has also been lifted.
SpaceX needs Starship to become fully reusable. It also needs the rocket to carry more satellites to grow Starlink.
The company is expected to use Starship to carry astronauts and cargo between lunar orbit and the Moon’s surface for NASA. Musk has also said he wants to use it to colonize Mars.
