SpaceX to catch Starship falling from space, targets weekly launch from 2027

SpaceX plans to catch Starship during its 15th flight and begin weekly launches in 2027. The effort advances its goal of a fully reusable system supporting Moon and Mars missions.SpaceX expects Starship to fly once a week in the first half of 2027. (Photo: SpaceX)New Delhi,Oct 21, 2026 12:30 ISTSpaceX is preparing to attempt one of the most ambitious feats in rocket engineering: catching its Starship spacecraft as it returns from space, as Elon Musk outlined an aggressive timeline for making the giant rocket fly as frequently as an airplane by the end of 2027.Musk said SpaceX expects Starship to fly once a week in the first half of 2027, with the frequency increasing to twice a week by the end of next year.The company is working towards complete reusability, requiring only limited refurbishment between flights, allowing the vehicle to be prepared for another launch almost immediately.SpaceX will attempt to catch Starship on its 15th flight, Musk said, signalling the next major step in the company's effort to develop a fully reusable launch system. The ambitious plan builds on SpaceX's efforts to recover and reuse its Super Heavy booster using the giant mechanical arms of its launch tower. The company now wants to extend this approach to Starship, the spacecraft designed to travel beyond Earth orbit, including missions to the Moon and Mars.The ability to recover both the booster and spacecraft could fundamentally change the economics of spaceflight. Instead of building a new rocket for every mission, SpaceX aims to launch, recover, inspect and refly the same vehicle with minimal downtime. "Most people in the world don't realise how important this technology is," Musk said, arguing that reusable launch vehicles are central to humanity's long-term future beyond Earth. Starship is central to SpaceX's ambitions to establish a human presence on Mars. (Photo: SpaceX) He added that the only way to extend consciousness beyond Earth is through a fully reusable launch vehicle. The vision is to dramatically reduce the cost of reaching space and enable the transportation of people, cargo and infrastructure at a scale that conventional expendable rockets cannot easily support.Starship is central to SpaceX's ambitions to establish a human presence on Mars. Its development is also important for NASA's Artemis programme, which plans to use a modified version of the spacecraft as a lunar lander for future astronaut missions.However, achieving airline-like operations remains a formidable engineering challenge. Starship must demonstrate reliable atmospheric re-entry, precise recovery, rapid refurbishment and repeated launches while maintaining safety and performance.If SpaceX meets its targets, Starship could mark a turning point in space transportation, transforming rockets from vehicles used once or a handful of times into reusable systems capable of flying routinely between Earth and space.- Ends