Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
SpaceX had originally hoped to use its launch tower to grab the Super Heavy booster again, something that’s become a major highlight of Starship’s flight tests. Fans were eager to see it return in Flight 10, as the last tower catch happened back during Flight 8.
However, SpaceX has confirmed that the booster won’t be caught this time. Instead, it will perform a soft landing in the ocean. That approach carries a high risk—there’s a real chance the booster will not survive the impact with the water.
What makes this decision even more surprising is that this isn’t a reused rocket. It’s a fresh one—Booster 16—and just building it likely cost about $63 million. Nearly half of that price went into the engines, which are by far the priciest part of the booster.
Booster 16 is new and hasn’t flown before. Booster 14 was reused earlier to test reusability. SpaceX already caught boosters in Flights 7 and 8, so many expected them to do it again in Flight 10—but they won’t.
Why skip the catch? It comes down to priorities. Rocket tests are expensive, and sometimes the cost outweighs the data. But even small data points can lead to better designs.
SpaceX focuses on learning something new with each launch. That’s likely why they chose not to do a tower catch this time.
SpaceX has already shown it can catch boosters with the tower arms—they’ve done it twice and know how to lower the risks. Doing it again wouldn’t add much new. Booster 16 is from the older Block 2 series, while SpaceX is now moving to Block 3. Using this older booster for different tests could help improve the next version.
SpaceX had originally hoped to use its launch tower to grab the Super Heavy booster again, something that’s become a major highlight of Starship’s flight tests. Fans were eager to see it return in Flight 10, as the last tower catch happened back during Flight 8.
However, SpaceX has confirmed that the booster won’t be caught this time. Instead, it will perform a soft landing in the ocean. That approach carries a high risk—there’s a real chance the booster will not survive the impact with the water.
What makes this decision even more surprising is that this isn’t a reused rocket. It’s a fresh one—Booster 16—and just building it likely cost about $63 million. Nearly half of that price went into the engines, which are by far the priciest part of the booster.
Booster 16 is new and hasn’t flown before. Booster 14 was reused earlier to test reusability. SpaceX already caught boosters in Flights 7 and 8, so many expected them to do it again in Flight 10—but they won’t.
Why skip the catch? It comes down to priorities. Rocket tests are expensive, and sometimes the cost outweighs the data. But even small data points can lead to better designs.
SpaceX focuses on learning something new with each launch. That’s likely why they chose not to do a tower catch this time.
SpaceX has already shown it can catch boosters with the tower arms—they’ve done it twice and know how to lower the risks. Doing it again wouldn’t add much new. Booster 16 is from the older Block 2 series, while SpaceX is now moving to Block 3. Using this older booster for different tests could help improve the next version.
