Elon Musk says SpaceX will attempt to capture both the vehicle’s lower and upper stages for test flight 15.
SpaceX
SpaceX is planning to catch both the Starship's Super Heavy booster and its upper stage, dubbed the "Ship," for the first time ever for the vehicle's 15th flight test. During the company's earnings call, which was livestreamed on X, Elon Musk announced SpaceX's plan for the flight that could take place as soon as next month. SpaceX also showed a short video during the livestream, demonstrating how it intends to safely retrieve the Ship when it makes its way back to Earth.
You can watch the SpaceX earnings call and fast forward to 1:07:19 to watch the simulation, but you can also watch the excerpt below, courtesy of investor Sawyer Merritt.
As you can see, the company intends to catch the Ship using the "chopstick" arms of its launch tower, which it had also used in the past to capture the vehicle's Super Heavy booster. While both of the vehicle's stages splashed into the ocean for test flight 14, SpaceX's ultimate goal is to develop Starship into a fully and rapidly reusable orbital launch vehicle for future deep space missions. It was, after all, designed with the purpose of carrying crew and cargo to the moon and to Mars in mind. If the company manages to catch both stages next month, it would be a huge step towards achieving that goal.
As Space notes, the company has yet to try capturing Starship's upper stage, as it travels higher and farther than the booster. It's faster as well. For Flight 14, for instance, Ship was supposed to spend 10 hours in orbit, circling our planet. SpaceX ultimately had to cut the trip short, because one of Ship's engines malfunctioned, but it still took hours to return to Earth, whereas Super Heavy came back just a few minutes after launch.