On Friday, November 13, SpaceX conducted the 15th test flight of its unmanned Starship spacecraft from its South Texas space base, but the operation to return the Super Heavy Booster rocket to the launch pad failed.
According to live footage from SpaceX, the booster recovery operation was halted shortly after launch and the rocket diverted to the Gulf of Mexico instead of returning to base. After a brief pause in the air, the booster exploded near sea level.
Even so, the top of the starship reached Earth orbit about 27 minutes after launch and began releasing 26 Starlink satellites 36 minutes after liftoff.
SpaceX has successfully restrained the Super Heavy Booster three times before with the launch tower's mechanical arms.