SpaceX plans to catch both stages of its Starship rocket during its next test flight, company founder Elon Musk has announced.
The mission will attempt to recover both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft in a single flight for the first time. SpaceX has not previously managed to retrieve both sections of the vehicle during the same test flight.
If successful, the maneuver will mark the first time that all elements of a fully reusable orbital rocket system return to Earth without damage. Musk said that catching both stages intact will bring the company closer to complete reusability for Starship and Super Heavy, significantly reducing financial costs and speeding up preparation times for future launches.
Musk described the recovery technology as a critical breakthrough necessary to make life multiplanetary. He explained that the system is essential to develop a transportation network capable of regularly delivering cargo and human crews to Mars.
November launch schedule
The upcoming test flight is scheduled to take place on Friday, November 13.
Alongside the announcement, SpaceX released a new documentary film titled Go For Orbit. The film chronicles the first orbital launch of Starship carrying advanced Starlink V3 satellites into space.
Starship and orbital reusability
SpaceX is an American aerospace manufacturer founded by Musk in 2002 to advance commercial spaceflight and reduce the cost of space transportation. Traditional rockets are expendable, meaning their stages burn up in the atmosphere or fall into the ocean after launch. SpaceX pioneered the return and reuse of orbital-class rocket boosters with its Falcon 9 rocket, which lands autonomously on ground pads and ocean platforms.
The Starship vehicle is designed as a fully reusable, two-stage super heavy-lift launch system, comprising the Super Heavy booster stage and the Starship upper-stage spacecraft. The rocket is engineered to carry satellite payloads, scientific equipment and astronauts to Earth orbit, the Moon and Mars. Achieving full recovery of both stages would allow SpaceX to refuel and relaunch the vehicle rapidly rather than manufacturing new hardware for every mission.
