Space
SpaceX targets first-ever full Starship recovery with mid-air catch attempt
Elon Musk says the company plans to catch both the orbital vehicle and its booster next month—a feat no launch system has achieved before.
The Verge
SpaceX is preparing to undertake a historic challenge: retrieving an entire orbital launch system in a single flight. Elon Musk revealed during the company's third-quarter earnings call that engineers will attempt to use mechanical "chopstick" arms to snatch Starship and its Super Heavy booster out of the air next month, potentially marking the first complete recovery of an orbital vehicle ever achieved.
The Ambition and the Reality Check#
Musk described the attempt as "a profound technology milestone in the history of civilization consciousness," but tempered expectations by acknowledging inherent risks. "Success is not guaranteed on these first flights, but I'd say it's more likely than not that this succeeds next flight," he explained. The company views this as one milestone in a longer arc—even if this particular attempt falters, SpaceX plans a steady cadence of Starship tests through year-end and an accelerating schedule in 2027.
How Starship's Recovery System Works#
The vehicle consists of two stages: the Super Heavy booster (first stage) and the Starship spacecraft sitting atop it. Standing roughly 120–124 meters tall with a nine-meter diameter, the stack runs on SpaceX's Raptor engines, which burn liquid methane and oxygen. Central to the recovery strategy are launch-site tower arms—colloquially called "chopsticks"—designed to intercept and stabilize each component during descent.
Recent Flight Progress and Setbacks#
Starship's most recent launch last month achieved two major firsts: delivering the spacecraft to Earth orbit and deploying SpaceX's newer V3 Starlink satellites. However, the flight encountered complications when one Raptor engine shut down early during ascent, forcing mission control to adapt and finish the climb using fewer engines. Due to this anomaly, SpaceX truncated what was planned as a 10-hour, six-orbit mission to roughly three hours and two orbits.
Recovery efforts on that flight came up empty. The Super Heavy booster splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico while the upper stage performed a de-orbit burn before plunging into the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii. Neither stage was retrieved.
This is a developing story.
