SpaceX catches a returning Starship with its Mechazilla arms for the first time

A first catch for Starship itself

SpaceX has caught a returning Starship with the arms of its launch tower for the first time, according to The Verge. The catch happened on Friday, 14 November 2026, with the vehicle easing itself between the tower's arms at around 4:20 PM ET.

The company calls the technique a chopstick catch. Instead of landing on legs, the rocket flies back to the launch site, flips upright, and is grabbed by the arms of the tower, nicknamed Mechazilla.

The arms of the tower have caught SpaceX boosters before. What makes this flight different is that the upper stage, the Starship vehicle itself, was recovered this way for the first time.

A mixed result for Flight 15

The flight was not a complete success. The plan was to catch the booster from Flight 15 as well, but SpaceX aborted that catch. The booster did not land and was destroyed over the Gulf of Mexico.

SpaceX is still working out what caused the booster to abort its landing, The Verge reports. Because the company has caught boosters on earlier flights, the failure does not appear to be a fundamental problem with the approach.

Taken together, the flight counts as a milestone even though the whole launch vehicle was not recovered.

What Elon Musk said before the flight

SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk spoke about the flight beforehand during the company's third-quarter earnings call. He said that success is not guaranteed on these first flights, but that it was more likely than not the catch would succeed next flight.

That cautious outlook proved reasonable. One half of the mission worked and the other did not.

Why the catch matters

Catching rockets instead of landing them could make reuse faster and cheaper. A vehicle grabbed by the tower does not need landing legs, and it can be picked up and prepared for another flight directly at the launch site.

SpaceX has already shown the method works for its booster. Extending it to Starship itself is a step towards reusing both parts of the system, which is central to the programme's goals.

For now, the company has two threads to follow: understanding why the booster failed over the Gulf of Mexico, and building on the first successful catch of Starship.