SpaceX completed its seventh launch of Starship on Thursday, accomplishing a clean liftoff and catch of the first-stage booster. However, the upper stage was lost after its ascent.<\/p>\n
The launch took place just a few minutes after 5 p.m. on the East Coast, as the first attempts at getting Starship in the air for the seventh time were delayed by weather both last week and this week<\/a>.<\/p>\n Conditions were favorable on Thursday<\/a> as SpaceX looked to follow up a successful campaign by Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’s company, earlier today.<\/p>\n SpaceX went into the seventh Starship launch with plans for a catch attempt of the first-stage booster, something it attempted and completed during the fifth test launch last year. It decided to skip a catch attempt with the sixth test flight as conditions were not aligned.<\/p>\n For now, SpaceX is extremely selective as to when it attempts catches.<\/p>\n However, it was successful during this attempt, its second completed catch:<\/p>\n ? ? Here is @SpaceX<\/a>\u2019s full catch of the Lower Stage Booster from Starship Flight 7! pic.twitter.com\/IXIRAGr1Md<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 16, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n