SpaceX aims to make history with first catch of both Starship stages in Friday launch from Boca Chica

SpaceX will try to make spaceflight history as soon as Friday by catching both halves of its giant Starship rocket with the same launch tower that sends them skyward. No orbital launch system has done that.

The company is targeting a 75-minute launch window that opens at 4:45 p.m. CST at its Starbase complex near Brownsville, pending approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. If the flight goes as planned, the Super Heavy booster will fly back to the pad and be snared by the tower’s mechanical arms minutes after liftoff. The Starship upper stage would follow nearly a day later, after circling the Earth about 14 times.

SpaceX said a successful “double catch” would mark “the first full recovery of an orbital launch system.” The company called it a breakthrough in its effort to make Starship a reliable rocket that can be reused quickly.

SpaceX’s timeline puts the booster catch about 6 1/2 minutes after liftoff. The ship catch is scheduled for about 22 1/2 hours after launch, at the end of a flight that will reach an altitude of about 171 miles (275 kilometers).