SpaceX yesterday presented the results for the third quarter of this year and, together with the company’s good numbers, Elon Musk announced what he called a ‘a momentous technological milestone’. On the next test flight Starshipwhich will take place in November on an unspecified date, SpaceX will try to capture for the first time the two stages of the 124-meter-high megarocketthe largest that has been built to date.
Musk noted during the presentation that ‘It will be the first time an orbital launch vehicle has been fully recovered. The only way to extend consciousness beyond Earth on a sustained basis is through a fully reusable orbital launch vehicle. That’s why I think This is a transcendental technological milestone in the history of civilization and consciousness‘.
Starship is the most ambitious project the aerospace industry has ever had. The idea of a huge, completely reusable rocket that would allow us to colonize other planets and develop the booming space economy was presented in 2018. Since then, SpaceX has spent more than $15 billion developing itaccording to the company’s IPO documentation last June that Reuters was able to consult.
BREAKING: Elon Musk just shared this incredible footage of how SpaceX plans to catch the Starship. https://t.co/ZDeQtDkgZC
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) October 20, 2026
The first test flight took place in April 2023 and ended about four minutes after takeoff with the destruction of both stages of Starship after the separation maneuver failed. In fact, it was not until the fourth flight in June 2024 that SpaceX managed to land the booster Super Heavy and the spaceship Starshipalso known as shipfor the first time.
In the 14 flights carried out so far, six Starship ships and six Super Heavy boosters have been lost due to various failures and eight stages of each type have completed a controlled splashdown or capturealthough some with changes compared to the initial plan. In total, three Super Heavy have been recovered through the launch tower and A Starship was rescued from the ocean after landing intact and floating.
If SpaceX manages to recover the two stages from the launch tower, it will be the second milestone that Starship has achieved. after achieving its first orbital flight last month and have deployed 26 satellites starlink third generation.
The Starship measures 52 meters high, equivalent to a building 17 floorsand the Super Heavy propellant 72 meterslike a building 24 plants. Capturing the first is a more difficult operation because the upper stage reaches higher altitudes, travels longer distances and travels at higher speeds than the propeller.
But Elon Musk has been optimistic. ‘I’d say we’re more likely to get it on the next flight than the opposite.. And if not, we have a constant succession of Starship flight attempts until the end of this year, and the pace will accelerate next year,’ he said yesterday.
The announcement has occurred after closing a quarter in which the company has increased one 161% its income compared to the same period last year, 14.6 billion of dollars versus 5,600. SpaceX achieved a net profit of 4.4 billion of dollars, an improvement of 5.5 billion compared to the same quarter of the previous year, when it lost 1.1 billion.
Although SpaceX is perceived as an aerospace company, only $1.8 billion of third-quarter revenue came from the launch division. The vast majority come from Starlink and artificial intelligence. The results caused SpaceX shares to rise a 7.5%.