SpaceX Catches Booster But Loses Rocket On Starship Test Flight

SpaceX has achieved a remarkable milestone by successfully catching its Super Heavy Booster during the seventh test flight of its Starship rocket, although the upper stage vehicle did not survive the flight. The launch took place at 5:37 PM ET on Thursday, January 16, from SpaceX’s Boca Chica facility in Texas. This marks only the second occasion that the massive booster has been successfully captured, aligning with SpaceX’s goal of developing a fully reusable heavy-lift vehicle.

During its ascent, the upper stage appeared to encounter engine troubles, leading to a loss of communication roughly 10 minutes post-launch, around the time it was scheduled to cut off its main engines.

“The booster separated successfully, and we observed the hot staging maneuver along with all six engines firing during the ascent. However, as we neared the conclusion of that ascent, we noticed engines dropping out on our telemetry. We ultimately lost contact with the upper stage,” explained Dan Huot, a SpaceX commentator. “At this stage, we are operating under the assumption that the Starship has been lost.”

The Starship used for this test flight was a new model, incorporating numerous modifications to its hardware compared to previous iterations, introducing a variety of risks.

“It is likely we lost the Starship during its ascent phase,” shared Kate Tice, SpaceX’s senior quality engineering manager. “This was a new version of the vehicle, intentionally designed and tested to explore the limits, just as we have done with every test flight. The primary aim was to understand the capabilities and boundaries of this vehicle’s flight potential. While we were certainly hopeful for a successful outcome, we understood that this was all part of the testing process.”

Nevertheless, the SpaceX team has reason to celebrate, as the booster, or first stage, was successfully caught at the Boca Chica launch site. The separation of the booster and the upper stage went off without a hitch, with the booster successfully returning to the awaiting robotic arms, affectionately dubbed Mechazilla.

Mechazilla has caught the Super Heavy booster! pic.twitter.com/aq91TloYzY

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 16, 2025

Despite the loss of the Starship, the team at SpaceX remains optimistic about moving forward in their development efforts. “Seeing the booster safely land was fantastic, but we are, of course, disappointed about the Starship,” said Huot. “We will need to analyze all the data, which will require some time. In the coming hours or days, we aim to ascertain exactly what went wrong and ensure that it doesn’t hinder our progress for future flights.”