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SpaceX launches giant Starship rocket, but aborts attempt to catch booster with mechanical arms

Trump SpaceX President-elect Donald Trump listens as Elon Musk explains the operations in the control room ahead of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Brownsville, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP)
Trump SpaceX President-elect Donald Trump listens to Elon Musk at the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Boca Chica, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP)
SpaceX Starship Launch SpaceX's mega rocket booster returns to earth, but not the launch pad at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX Starship Launch SpaceX's mega rocket Starship lifts off for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX Starship Launch SpaceX's mega rocket Starship lifts off for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX Starship Launch SpaceX's mega rocket Starship lifts off for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX Starship Launch SpaceX's mega rocket Starship lifts off for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX Starship Launch SpaceX's mega rocket Starship lifts off for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX Starship Launch In this image taken from video provided by SpaceX, a SpaceX Starship rocket takes off from Boca Chica Texas, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (SpaceX via AP)
SpaceX Starship Launch In this image taken from video provided by SpaceX, a SpaceX Starship rocket takes off from Boca Chica Texas, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (SpaceX via AP)
SpaceX Starship Launch In this image taken from video provided by SpaceX, a SpaceX Starship rocket takes off from Boca Chica, Texas, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (SpaceX via AP)
SpaceX Starship Launch In this image taken from video provided by SpaceX, a SpaceX Starship rocket takes off from Boca Chica Texas, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (SpaceX via AP)
SpaceX Starship Launch SpaceX's mega rocket Starship prepares for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Trump SpaceX President-elect Donald Trump speaks as Elon Musk explains the operations in the control room ahead of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Boca Chica, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP)
Trump SpaceX President-elect Donald Trump listens as Elon Musk explains the operations in the control room ahead of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Brownsville, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP)
Trump SpaceX President-elect Donald Trump watches with Elon Musk as Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., left, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, left, Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, before the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Boca Chica, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP)
Trump SpaceX President-elect Donald Trump speaks with talks with Brendan Carr before the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Boca Chica, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP)
Trump SpaceX President-elect Donald Trump speaks with talks with Brendan Carr before the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Brownsville, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP)
Trump SpaceX President-elect Donald Trump watches the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Brownsville, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP)
Trump SpaceX President-elect Donald Trump watches the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Brownsville, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP)
Trump SpaceX President-elect Donald Trump watches the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Boca Chica, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP)
Trump SpaceX President-elect Donald Trump watches the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Boca Chica, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP)
APTOPIX SpaceX Starship Launch Workers help ready SpaceX's mega rocket Starship for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
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SpaceX on Tuesday launched another , but passed up catching the booster with

Unlike last month鈥檚 success, the booster was directed to a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. The catch was called off just four minutes into the test flight from Texas for safety reasons, and the booster hit the water three minutes later.

SpaceX’s Elon Musk said Wednesday via X that the booster catch was aborted due to lost communication with a launch tower computer.

At the same time, the empty spacecraft launched from Texas atop Starship soared across the Gulf of Mexico on a near loop around the world similar to October鈥檚 test flight. Skimming space, the shiny retro-looking craft descended into the Indian Ocean for a controlled but destructive end to the hourlong demo.

It was the for the world鈥檚 biggest and most powerful rocket that SpaceX and NASA hope to use to get astronauts back on the moon and eventually Mars.

SpaceX kept the same flight path as last time, but changed some steps along the way as well as the time of day. Starship blasted off in late afternoon instead of early morning to ensure daylight to see the spacecraft鈥檚 descent.

Among the new objectives that were achieved: igniting one of the spacecraft鈥檚 engines in space, which would be necessary when returning from orbit. There were also thermal protection experiments aboard the spacecraft, with some areas stripped of heat tiles to see whether catch mechanisms might work there on future flights. And the spacecraft descended nose-first during the last part of entry, before flipping and splashing down upright into the Indian Ocean. Even more upgrades are planned for the next test flight.

flew in for the launch in the latest sign of a deepening bond between the president-elect and Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO.

SpaceX wants to eventually return and reuse the entire 400-foot (121-meter) Starship. Full-scale recycling would drive down the cost of hauling cargo and people to the moon and Mars, while speeding things up. The recycling of SpaceX鈥檚 Falcon rockets flying out of Florida and California has already saved the company time and money.

NASA is paying SpaceX more than $4 billion to land astronauts on the moon via Starship on back-to-back missions later this decade. Musk envisions launching a fleet of Starships to build a city one day on Mars.

This was the sixth launch of a fully assembled Starship since 2023. The first three ended up exploding.

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