SpaceX misses the Starship booster catch on Flight 15, but the ship is still in orbit with 26 Starlinks

SpaceX launched the 15th Starship test flight from Starbase, Texas, on Friday evening, then called off the planned catch of the Super Heavy booster. Instead of returning to the launch tower's mechanical arms, known as the chopsticks, the booster was diverted to the Gulf of Mexico, where it burst into flames, CNBC and the BBC reported. The upper stage kept going.

What happened, and what is still to come

• Liftoff: CNBC put it at 5:47 p.m. ET and the BBC at 2245 GMT (about 5:45 p.m. ET); the two differ by a couple of minutes.
• The booster: A SpaceX spokesperson said on the company's stream that safety comes first and the vehicles are still testing maneuvers that have not been done before, the BBC reported. SpaceX had caught the booster on three earlier flights.
• The ship: It is deploying 26 Starlink V3 satellites and is due to circle Earth 14 times, returning to Starbase about 22.5 hours after launch, per the BBC. CNBC said the landing is expected Saturday.
• The next decision: A catch of the ship is not guaranteed. SpaceX said beforehand it would attempt it only after assessing the vehicle in space, the BBC reported. The BBC gave the window as about 3:15 p.m. local time (2115 GMT) on Saturday.

No upper stage has ever been caught; it has only splashed down so far, and reached orbit for the first time in September on Flight 14, which our earlier story covered. A full double catch, booster and ship, was the point of this flight. Half of it is off the table.

Why the money side cares

Reuse is the economics. The BBC quoted the Royal Aeronautical Society's Prof Malcolm Macdonald saying full reusability could fundamentally change the cost of reaching space, though one success would not prove the model. CNBC said Starship is central to growing Starlink, which it described as SpaceX's profit center, with more than 11,000 active satellites. SpaceX has said one Starship can carry up to 60 Starlink V3 satellites, about 20 times what a Falcon 9 carries, CNBC reported.

William Blair analysts wrote Friday that SpaceX is likely a full decade ahead of its peers on launch, and that even if the catch failed, "a delay by a few months is not that consequential," CNBC reported. That is one firm's read, not a consensus.

The stock

SpaceX (Nasdaq: SPCX) closed at $139.11 on Friday, down 0.59%, before the launch, according to Nasdaq.com. At 7:59 p.m. ET in after-hours trading it was at $136.26, down 2.05% from that close, still above the $135 IPO price. We did not find a source tying the after-hours move to the flight, and thin evening trading can swing on small volume, so we are not drawing a line between the two. For scale, the shares are about 18.6% below their Oct. 6 peak on our chart.

Outside the flight itself

CNBC also reported that SpaceX faces fresh criticism over limits on its Starshield service in Ukraine, which Ukrainian officials say were imposed without warning, and that some US senators have condemned the restrictions. It also noted the FAA's nationwide ground stop hours later did not affect SpaceX's launch license, per an FAA spokesperson. Our coverage of the ground stop is separate.

What to watch Saturday

The result of the ship's return, whether SpaceX attempts the catch at all, and whether regulators ask for a review of the booster's failed return. We have not seen an FAA statement on the latter, and we will update when there is one. Starship also sits on NASA's path to a crewed Moon landing, now targeted for 2028, the BBC noted.

Sources: CNBC; BBC News; quote data from Nasdaq.com. The flight was still under way at publication and details may change. This is market information, not investment advice.