SpaceX Starship Reaches Orbit in Flight 15

SpaceX’s Starship Flight 15 lifted off from Starbase, Texas, and returned after roughly 22 hours and 14 orbits, deploying 26 Starlink satellites before the upper stage was caught by the launch tower’s mechanical arms. It was the first successful tower catch of a Starship upper stage returning from orbit. The heat shield and other spacecraft systems appeared to perform well, but the Super Heavy booster’s attempted return was aborted and it ended up in the Gulf of Mexico; SpaceX is investigating the cause. The test advanced SpaceX’s effort to develop a fully reusable rocket for more frequent launches, Starlink deployments, and future Moon and Mars missions. NASA is counting on Starship for planned Artemis lunar landings later this decade.