SpaceX’s Starship soars into orbit — after booster explodes in Gulf of Mexico
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booster → soar → Mexico
SpaceX’s attempt to recover its entire Starship back at the launch pad was thwarted when the booster fell into the Gulf of Mexico and exploded Friday, but the spacecraft still soared into orbit in its boldest test yet.
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spacecraft → recover → test
Instead of returning to its Texas pad following liftoff, the first-stage booster was diverted to a point offshore.
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booster → return → point
Despite the setback, the spacecraft continued on its way.
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spacecraft → continue → way
It will steer toward the pad Saturday, barring further trouble.
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It → steer → trouble
The flight could last as long as 22 hours.
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flight → last → hours
It’s the first time that Starship will try to return to the pad from orbit, to be plucked in midair by mechanical arms secured to the launch tower.
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Starship → ’ → tower
The loss of the booster meant Elon Musk’s company missed out on a double catch.
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company → mean → catch
The original goal was to retrieve every single piece of the rocket for the purpose of future recycling, something yet to be achieved anywhere in the world.
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goal → retrieve → world
Shortly after reaching orbit, Starship dropped off 26 of the company’s most advanced Starlink satellites.
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Starship → reach → satellites
The plan is for Starship to complete 15 laps around the world at an altitude of around 170 miles before heading back to the launch site for Saturday’s grand finale.
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Starship → complete → finale
SpaceX had already made three booster grabs at the company’s sprawling Starbase near the US-Mexico border.
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SpaceX → make → border
That made Friday’s miss all the more surprising.
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miss → make → ?
“Well, that certainly isn’t the news that we had hoped to hear for today,” observed SpaceX launch commentator Kate Tice, adding that it was in line with the many rigorous safety checks to protect the pad.
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it → hop → pad
No explanation was provided for what went wrong.
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what → provide → ?
This was the first attempt to capture the upgraded version of the booster that stretches 236 feet (72 meters) — the production model for moon and Mars expeditions.
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that → capture → expeditions
It will also be the first time the company attempts to catch the spacecraft, which spans 171 feet (52 meters).
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which → attempt → feet
Together, they form the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket — an astounding 407 feet (124 meters) in height.
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they → form → height
The spacecraft portion of the 14 previous Starships ended up in the ocean, either by design at flight’s end or by accident in a stream of flaming wreckage.
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portion → end → wreckage
During the first full-scale test flight in 2023, multiple engines failed to ignite and the tumbling rocket’s self-destruct system was activated.
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system → fail → 2023
The last test, in September, was the first to reach orbit, but SpaceX did not try to recover any of the rocket stages.
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SpaceX → reach → stages
SpaceX plans to start launching Starships from Florida within a few months and from Louisiana in a few years.
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SpaceX → plan → years
Scaled-up infrastructure, combined with full rocket reusability, is “how you go from zero launches to 10 to 100 to 1,000 to 10,000 to 100,000,” SpaceX’s Kiko Dontchev, vice president of launch, said at a NASA tech summit last week at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.
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Dontchev → scale → Center
SpaceX’s smaller Falcon rockets will continue to fly from Cape Canaveral, carrying astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA and from California carrying Starlinks.
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rockets → continue → Starlinks
Satellites also will keep hitching Falcon rides for now.
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Satellites → keep → rides
Musk wants Starships to eventually replace Falcons.
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Starships → want → Falcons
We still throw that second stage away every single flight.
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We → throw → stage
Starship, we’re going to catch both the first stage and second stage,” Dontchev said ahead of Friday’s launch.
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Dontchev → go → launch
NASA expects to decide a year before the Artemis IV lunar landing — the first by astronauts in more than half a century — whether to get the moonwalkers to the surface with Musk’s Starship or Bezos’ Blue Moon.
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NASA → expect → Starship
During next summer’s Artemis III mission, astronauts will practice docking their capsule with a Blue Moon and then a Starship in orbit around Earth.
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astronauts → practice → Earth
That will set the stage for an Artemis moon touchdown as early as 2028.
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That → set → 2028
“We are looking forward to some of that on-orbit Starlink capability on Artemis III,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said via X after Starship reached orbit.
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Starship → look → orbit
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