SpaceX Super Heavy booster explodes after failed catch attempt during Starship test flight

SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster detonated in the Gulf of Mexico after the company pulled the plug on its plan to intercept the rocket’s return to the Texas launch site, wrecking a core goal of the company’s latest Starship test.

The rocket launched on Friday, Nov. 13, from the company’s Starbase site during SpaceX’s 15th Starship test flight. During its descent, it experienced a problem with the booster and was aimed at the Gulf rather than being caught by the launch tower’s mechanical arms.

Even with the failure, the Starship craft eventually entered orbit, another achievement for the programme.

“We will get into the cause of that abort as we track the vehicle back to the tower,” SpaceX official Dan Huot said during the company’s livestream, UPI reported.

The goal of the mission was to showcase the retrieval and refiring of both stages of the world’s most powerful rocket system, a first step in SpaceX’s ultimate goal of more regular launches and future trips to the Moon and Mars.

The upper stage would have proceeded into orbit and was expected to try to return to the launch site on Saturday. The launch also marked the planned release of 26 Starlink V3S.

The company is designing and building a fully reusable starship for missions to support its Moon and Mars plans.