Yesterday's attempt to catch the booster segment of the rocket was aborted due to a 'low fuel' sensor. The upper segment, Starship, went into orbit, deployed the satellites, orbited for 22 hours and returned to Mechazilla:
First up, from SpaceX, November 14:
Mechazilla catches Starship! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on this incredible achievement! https://t.co/YJzmGUZb2B
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 14, 2026
More at Space.com:
If you recall, SpaceX successfully caught the booster in October. Catching Starship was not attempted on that flight.
And from some rando (kidding) physicist:
Today, SpaceX permanently altered the balance of global economics, politics, and modern warfare. After deploying 26 next-gen Starlink V3 satellites across 14 orbits, Ship 42 survived Mach 25+ reentry and landed cleanly inside Mechazilla’s arms at Starbase. Here is why every finance minister, regulator, and defense ministry on Earth just woke up to a new reality: 1. Full upper-stage reuse drops orbital launch costs toward fuel-and-maintenance levels. Combined with Terafab’s captive silicon and SpaceX’s 100 GW HJT solar orders for Starmind, Musk can now deploy gigawatt-scale orbital AI data centers and global broadband faster and cheaper than terrestrial hyperscalers stuck in 5-year utility queues. 2. A fully reusable Starship deploying 26+ V3 satellites per flight creates an un-censorable, direct-to-cell global communications and compute layer that bypasses national telecom monopolies, undersea cable chokepoints, and local regulatory vetoes. 3. Modern conflict is now defined by resilient LEO satellite meshes, hypersonic missile tracking, and rapid logistics. Today’s catch proves the U.S. has an industrial heavy-lift engine capable of replenishing entire defense constellations (Starshield) in days—and eventually dropping 100+ tons of military cargo anywhere on Earth in under 45 minutes. History will mark November 14, 2026 as the day space stopped being an exploration frontier and became the decisive high ground of global power.
— Kekius Maximus (@Kekius_Sage) November 14, 2026
