The 15th flight of Starship took off into space from Starbase in Texas on Friday, hoping to reach orbit, deploy satellites, and to achieve a historic first - a catch of Starship by the gigantic arms of Mechazilla on Saturday.
Here was the liftoff of Starship.
Liftoff of Starship! https://t.co/lc7UtE6H7z
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 13, 2026
Then there was the hot-stage separation of Starship from the Super Heavy booster.
Hot-staging separation! Starship’s Raptor engines have ignited, and the Super Heavy is boosting back towards Starbase for a catch https://t.co/GySjTZg7HO
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 13, 2026
The booster was supposed to come back to Starbase and be caught, but they changed plans and had it splash down offshore.
Super Heavy has diverted to an offshore splashdown in the Gulf https://t.co/1M2xn7NYJA
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 13, 2026
Meanwhile, Starship was cleared to proceed into orbit around the Earth.
Starship’s ascent burn is complete. Starship is now on a planned suborbital trajectory as teams check systems to confirm we are good to proceed to orbit today https://t.co/N38rluDxtc
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 13, 2026
They also deployed 26 V3 Starlink satellites.
Starship is now deploying its payload of 26 @Starlink V3 satellites. This deployment sequence will take ~42 minutes https://t.co/h0XEdXub7S
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 13, 2026
The visuals are amazing. This was only the second time it's made it into orbit.
Views of Starship in space as @Starlink deploy continues https://t.co/pd6FYvDo0D
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 13, 2026
They were in orbit for about 21 hours, getting views like this of Africa.
Starship in orbit over Africa https://t.co/vwkuBpdrLI
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 14, 2026
But then it was time to come home to "Baby Come Back." While the giant arms of Mechazilla had caught the booster before, this was the first time that they caught the Starship, so that was a historic achievement. It comes in faster than the booster, so it's harder to do, but they pulled it off on the first try, and it's a very big deal.
Mechazilla catches Starship! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on this incredible achievement! https://t.co/YJzmGUZb2B
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 14, 2026
SpaceX’s Dan Huot after the first ever Starship catch: “That was the holy grail of spaceflight, plummeting through fire to be snatched out of the air by steel. We caught a Starship. And now everything changes.” Absolutely goosebumps https://t.co/Y7qat9OM1Y
— X Freeze (@XFreeze) November 14, 2026
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was clearly pleased as he inspected the ship he called "Ship 42" (as in the answer to everything in life is 42, per "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"). That "answer" that the catch now provided will be a huge boon to spaceflight.
Inspecting ship 42 right now https://t.co/mazv15Dxtk
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2026
If they can catch it like this, it means they no longer need landing legs, so they can carry more cargo or fuel instead. It can then potentially be rapidly reused, potentially slashing the cost and increasing the frequency of spaceflight.
Editor's Note: Do you enjoy RedState's conservative reporting that takes on the radical Left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the Conversation
VIP members get the ability to comment on articles.