SpaceX Recovers Starship Spacecraft After Booster Loss
SpaceX caught the upper stage of its Starship rocket at its Starbase facility in Texas on November 14, 2026, according to the supplied report. The recovery followed an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve the rocket’s booster during the first phase of the mission on November 13.
The mission, designated Test Flight 15, was the company’s first attempt to recover both components using mechanical arms attached to a launch tower. Known as “chopsticks,” the arms captured the spacecraft after it completed 14 orbits around Earth. Elon Musk later posted video showing him inspecting the recovered vehicle.
During the earlier booster recovery attempt, SpaceX diverted the vehicle toward a planned splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. It exploded before reaching the water. The mission therefore demonstrated upper stage recovery but did not achieve the planned recovery of both rocket components.
Aviation authorities also imposed temporary restrictions during the flight. Hawaii’s Department of Transportation paused some flights from the West Coast because of potential debris risks. Separately, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop following telecommunications failures. Both restrictions were subsequently lifted. The report identified different causes for the two disruptions.
SpaceX deployed 26 of its latest Starlink v3 satellites during the mission, adding to a network that the report said already contained more than 11,000 satellites in low Earth orbit. The company says a single Starship can carry up to 60 of these satellites.
Developing reliable, fully reusable operations is a central element of SpaceX’s plans for Starship. Those plans include expanding Starlink, which the report describes as the company’s profit center, and transporting astronauts and cargo between lunar orbit and the Moon’s surface for NASA. Musk has also outlined much longer term ambitions for human settlement on Mars. The successful spacecraft recovery represents one part of that broader development effort.