SpaceX's Starship Flight 15 launches from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on Friday. Photograph: Ricardo Arduengo/AFP/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenSpaceX's Starship Flight 15 launches from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on Friday. Photograph: Ricardo Arduengo/AFP/Getty ImagesSpaceX Starship megarocket blasts off before expected return for reuseFlight 15 expected to orbit Earth about 14 times over 22 hours, before company catches it at Starbase, Texas
SpaceX’s Starship megarocket blasted off from Texas on Friday afternoon, as the aerospace company sought to make history with a double catch of its reusable rocket.
Starship Flight 15 is expected to orbit the Earth about 14 times over the course of 22 hours, before the company catches the rocket at its launchpad at Starbase, in south Texas.
The rocket itself was composed of two elements: the lower booster, with 33 raptor engines that fired off during takeoff, and the Starship at the top.
SpaceX had planned for both components to return to its tower, but the booster, named Super Heavy, was aborted and splashed down in the sea. The cause of that diversion remains unknown.
SpaceX has launched a flurry of test flights in recent years, as its chief executive Elon Musk pushes his vision of taking humans into space.
