Cover Image for SpaceX achieves a stunning rocket catch but loses the vehicle in the seventh Starship test.
Fri Jan 17 2025

SpaceX achieves a stunning rocket catch but loses the vehicle in the seventh Starship test.

The seventh test flight of SpaceX's Starship was filled with surprises and intense moments.

SpaceX has achieved an impressive capture of its Super Heavy Booster during the seventh test of the Starship rocket, although the vehicle itself has been lost. The mission launched at 5:37 p.m. ET on Thursday, January 16, from SpaceX's facilities in Boca Chica, Texas. This event marks only the second occasion on which the massive Starship rocket has been captured, as part of SpaceX's goal to develop a reusable heavy-lift vehicle.

However, the upper stage of the Starship, which is the part intended to travel to orbit and deploy payloads, experienced issues with its engines during ascent. Communications with this stage were lost about ten minutes after launch, coinciding with the main engine cutoff moment. Dan Huot, a SpaceX commentator, reported: "It successfully separated; we saw the 'hot staging' maneuver performed, and we observed the six engines of the spacecraft firing during its ascent. But at the end of that ascent phase, we started to see the engines stop sending signals in the telemetry, and we lost contact with the spacecraft."

Kate Tice, senior quality engineering manager at SpaceX, mentioned: “We believe we lost the spacecraft during its ascent phase. This was a new model of the Starship, intentionally designed and flown to explore the vehicle's limits. From the beginning, we knew that excitement was guaranteed, but success wasn't necessarily so.”

Despite the loss of the Starship, the SpaceX team has reasons to celebrate, as the booster was successfully captured at the Boca Chica facility. The separation between the booster and the spacecraft was successful, allowing the booster to return to the robotic arms of the tower, nicknamed Mechazilla. This equipment has been crucial in recovering the launcher.

Huot expressed: “It was great to see the booster descend, but we are disappointed about the spacecraft. Obviously, we need to review all the data. It will take some time, but in the next few hours or days, we will understand exactly what happened and prepare for the next flight, and keep moving forward... We will determine what caused the closure of our day today and ensure that it does not affect the next attempt.”