SpaceX is planning to attempt its first mid-air catch of the Starship upper stage on the vehicle's next flight, CEO Elon Musk announced July 25, a day after Flight 13 achieved a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

What Happened

"Unless we discover problems after mission data review, SpaceX will attempt to catch the ship with the tower on [the] next flight," Musk posted on X. The plan involves returning the Starship upper stage—commonly called "the ship"—to the Starbase launch tower in Texas and catching it using the same mechanical "chopsticks" arms that have already been used successfully with the Super Heavy booster. Flight 13, which launched July 24, marked a milestone: the ship executed a controlled reentry, flipped, and soft-landed intact in the ocean after deploying Starlink satellites, offering the first clear post-splashdown views of an undamaged heat shield. The Super Heavy booster from that flight experienced a harder splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

Why It Matters

A successful ship catch would represent the first mid-air recovery of an orbital-class upper stage by any entity, advancing SpaceX's goal of full and rapid reusability for the entire vehicle. The company has already demonstrated tower-catch technique multiple times with Super Heavy boosters—beginning with Booster 12 in October 2024, followed by Boosters 14 and 15—and those recovered boosters were later inspected, refurbished, and reflown. China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), a subsidiary of China's main state aerospace contractor, achieved a booster catch on July 10 but remains the only other entity besides SpaceX to attempt and complete such a recovery. Achieving catches of both Starship stages would be critical for lowering launch costs and supporting NASA's Artemis HLS lunar lander requirements as well as Musk's long-term Mars mission ambitions.

The Bottom Line

SpaceX is reviewing Flight 13 data before committing to the ship-catch attempt on Flight 14. If all checks pass, the next Starship flight could deliver one of the most ambitious recoveries in aerospace history.