SpaceX setback for Elon Musk as attempt to catch booster rocket ends in fireball - but firm still hopes to grab Starship spacecraft with giant chopsticks

Elon Musk's SpaceX programme suffered yet another setback on Friday after an attempt to recover a booster rocket ended in a huge fireball. 

An unspecified problem forced SpaceX to abort the recovery of the booster for the world's biggest and most powerful rocket, the Starship, but the company still hopes it can pull off its first 'catch' of the spaceship.

The 124m (407ft) Starship roared into the sky from Starbase in southern Texas for its 15th test flight, but minutes later, the landmark nature of the mission went awry.

After lift-off and the mid-air separation of the two stages, an issue with the Super Heavy booster forced SpaceX to divert it to an 'offshore splashdown' – scuttling what would have been a groundbreaking twin capture of both components of the rocket.

The plan had been to catch the rocket in two 'chopstick' mechanical arms, but instead, a fireball erupted as the booster fell into the Gulf of Mexico near the launch site.

'Not sure right now why we weren't able to bring it back,' SpaceX's Dan Huot said.

Meanwhile, the Starship spacecraft that gives the rocket system its name entered Earth's orbit, where it is expected to circle the globe 14 times before returning on Saturday.

'Starship and its heatshield are healthy as the vehicle continues to orbit Earth,' SpaceX said around seven hours after the mission started.

An unspecified problem forced SpaceX to abort the recovery of the booster for the world's biggest and most powerful rocket, the Starship

Earlier Starship had launched for a test flight from SpaceX's base in Texas, US, on Friday

The Starship will now orbit the Earth for around 22.5 hours before returning to Earth on Saturday evening, UK time

'We're not tracking any issues right now with the vehicle or with the range for our return, so everything continuing to look good,' Mr Huot said.

Musk took to X to share clips and photos of the rocket before and after launch, but did not acknowledge the setback. 

Successful recoveries of both Starship and its booster would have marked a milestone in the space industry's decades-long pursuit of fully reusable rocket systems.

SpaceX plans to return Starship to Earth after more than 22 hours of flight and recover it at around 9.20pm GMT – or 3.20pm CST – on Saturday at the launch site.

The 'catch' is extraordinarily complex because the spaceship will be falling much faster and from a much higher altitude than the booster, with the vessel forced to withstand the extreme heat of re-entering Earth's atmosphere.

It is hoping to fully recover the rocket to make Starship fully reusable, which would save money and resources. 

It is a long-held ambition by SpaceX to make space travel more efficient, with the firm becoming the first to vertically land part of a rocket in 2015 with its Falcon 9 booster. These rockets now fly more than 100 times a year. 

Like the three previous Super Heavy recoveries, Starship is meant to carry out a controlled descent and nestle between two mechanical 'chopstick arms' at the launch site.

'We'll only go for it if the ship passes all of these system checks and decision gates along the way, and there are lots of them,' SpaceX's Kate Tice said.

The 124m (407ft) Starship roared into the sky from Starbase in southern Texas for its 15th test flight, but minutes later, the landmark nature of the mission went awry

The plan had been to catch the rocket in two 'chopstick' mechanical arms, but instead, a fireball erupted as the booster fell into the Gulf of Mexico near the launch site 

The 124m (407ft) Starship roared into the sky from Starbase in southern Texas for its 15th test flight, but minutes later, the landmark nature of the mission went awry

Due to the risks of losing control of Starship, SpaceX has planned for various scenarios where it will shorten the test flight and plunge the spaceship into the Pacific Ocean if necessary.

While in space, the Starship launched 26 satellites to join others in Musk's Starlink satellite internet constellation.

Clayton Swope, an aerospace expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, called the mission a 'mixed bag so far' after the failure to catch the Super Heavy, something SpaceX has done three times previously.

'At least the Starship made it to orbit, like on the last test flight,' he said.

Some versions of the Starship spacecraft are designed to launch internet satellites and data centres into orbit, while other iterations will be made to ferry people to the Moon and Mars.

US space agency Nasa is counting on Starship to serve as a lunar lander on its Artemis mission, and administrator Jared Isaacman congratulated SpaceX on Friday for 'another spectacular launch' – without mentioning the booster disappointment.

The Starship project has been plagued by years-long delays as SpaceX grapples with novel engineering challenges, including how to transfer fuel to the spaceship while in orbit – a requirement for any journey to the Moon or Mars.

Following SpaceX's high-profile stock market debut in June that raised about $85.7billion, the company is investing heavily in stepping up production and launch capabilities.

During a tour of its factory at Starbase on Friday, SpaceX officials told journalists that it now has the capability to produce a spaceship every two weeks and a booster every four weeks.