Musk: SpaceX may try to intercept the Ship with a tower in a few months
SpaceX will likely attempt to recover the Ship’s upper stage using a launch tower for the first time in a few months. The company’s founder and CEO, Elon Musk, announced this on August 20 on the social media platform X, according to Space.com.
Earlier, on August 4, Musk stated that SpaceX plans to make such an attempt during the next Starship test flight, tentatively scheduled for late August. At that time, he noted that this would require approval from regulators, specifically the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
Starship consists of a giant Super Heavy booster and an upper stage, which SpaceX also refers to as Starship or Ship. Both components are designed for full and rapid reusability. The company plans to return them directly to the launch pad, where the vehicles will be captured by the tower’s mechanical “arms.”
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Super Heavy has already been recovered in this manner three times during Starship’s 13 suborbital test flights. One of the boosters has been reused: the same unit flew on both Flight 7 and Flight 9. The upper stage has not yet been attempted to be recovered by the tower, as it returns to Earth from a greater altitude and at a significantly higher speed than Super Heavy.
During Flight 13, launched on July 24, the Ship survived reentry into the atmosphere and splashed down in a designated area of the Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia. The spacecraft remained intact even after capsizing in the water. It was subsequently towed to Christmas Island for a detailed examination, with the findings to be incorporated into future versions of the spacecraft.
Even without an attempted recovery, Ship Flight 14 could mark an important milestone for the program. Musk had previously stated that Starship was expected to reach orbit for the first time during this very mission.
