Highlights of the spacecraft landing

• When is the launch and how can I watch it?
• What is Starship?
• What happens during this flight?
• Is there any danger when the ship passes through the United States on its way to land?
• What happens after this test flight?
• Why is Starship important to NASA?
• Wasn’t Starship already supposed to be heading to Mars?

Until recent years, rockets were generally disposable and expensive items. If the entire Starship, which is the largest rocket ever built, could be flown repeatedly, it would revolutionize the space industry, allowing larger, heavier satellites and other cargo to be launched more cheaply.

Additionally, NASA is counting on a version of Starship to serve as a lunar lander for its Artemis program. These captures are not needed for NASA’s Artemis III mission next year, but any failure would make it even more unlikely that NASA will achieve its goal of sending astronauts to the Moon in 2028.

When is the launch and how can I watch it?

Starship launched as scheduled at 5:47 p.m. Eastern from its Starbase site outside Brownsville, Texas, into clear azure skies, even as the Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop for air travel.

You can watch SpaceX coverage in the player above.

As the booster returned to the launch pad, commentators on SpaceX’s webcast said the capture attempt had been called off. Instead, the booster made a simulated landing over the Gulf of Mexico, which ended with a loud explosion.

What is Starship?

Measuring 407 feet tall, Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. It consists of two elements: a powerful booster stage with 33 engines, known as Super Heavy, and an upper stage spacecraft, also called Starship and often shortened to Ship.

“It’s designed not only for full reuse, but also for rapid reuse, like an airplane,” Elon Musk, founder and chief executive of SpaceX, said in September at the All-In Summit, a business and technology conference.

A previous Starship test flight in September was the first to enter orbit around Earth. The mission successfully deployed 26 of SpaceX’s newest Starlink satellites, which will become operational elements of the Internet communications network.

What happens during this flight?

This is Starship’s 15th test flight. After launching from the southern tip of Texas, the rocket headed east over the Gulf of Mexico.

Commenters on the SpaceX webcast said they were unsure why the attempt to capture the booster was called off.

The upper stage ship continued to ascend into orbit, about 170 miles above Earth, where it deployed another batch of 26 Starlink satellites.

After 22 hours and approximately 14 trips around the planet, the craft will leave its orbit and return to the launch site, where it must be caught by the mechanical arms of the launch tower.

Is there any danger when the ship passes through the United States on its way to land?

During Flight 14, SpaceX showed that it could restart an engine on the upper stage craft, allowing the craft to first enter a circular orbit and then exit its orbit.

If something aboard the spacecraft doesn’t work as planned, the return schedule can be moved forward so that it lands in an empty strip of the Pacific Ocean.

This is what happened on Flight 14. Although SpaceX had no plans to catch the ship, it planned to return over the United States and then simulate a landing over the Gulf of Mexico. However, because one of the upper stage’s engines had failed during ascent, SpaceX decided to play it safe and bring the ship back ahead of schedule, crashing into the Pacific.

What happens after this test flight?

Flight 16 could be Starship’s first launch from SpaceX’s renovated launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Texas launch site is not enough to accommodate SpaceX’s planned ramp-up of Starship launches. Another launch pad in Florida is under construction at the nearby Cape Canaveral space station, and SpaceX has announced plans to build a massive launch complex in Louisiana.

SpaceX could also achieve a major milestone next year if it can launch two ships in rapid succession, dock them together in orbit, and then move the liquid methane and liquid oxygen thrusters from one ship to the other.

The refueling maneuver is essential for Starship to leave low Earth orbit and head to more distant destinations like the Moon and Mars. Indeed, by the time the upper stage ship reaches orbit, its tanks are almost empty.

SpaceX’s plan is to build the equivalent of an orbital gas station. A series of oil tankers will bring propellants to fill the station. When full, the spacecraft heading to the Moon or elsewhere beyond low Earth orbit will launch, dock at the gas station, refuel and then continue its journey.

Why is Starship important to NASA?

In the second half of 2027, NASA plans to undertake its Artemis III mission. This trip will not go to the Moon but will remain in orbit around the Earth to practice docking procedures. Like the Artemis II mission that flew to the Moon and back this year, the Artemis III astronauts will sit aboard an Orion spacecraft, launched atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket.

Once in orbit, astronauts will practice docking with lunar lander prototypes, first with the Blue Moon spacecraft built by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company, then with Starship.

NASA has not yet decided which lander it will use for Artemis IV, which will attempt to land two astronauts on the Moon near its south pole.

Wasn’t Starship already supposed to be heading to Mars?

In March last year, Mr Musk said on X that Starship would be heading to Mars by the end of 2026. The two planets align to provide an optimal trajectory every 26 months.

On board would be Optimus humanoid robots built by Tesla, Mr. Musk’s car maker.

But failures during Starship’s test flights last year meant the craft would fall behind schedule. The Optimus robots have appeared in demos but also don’t appear ready for official space missions.