SpaceX's Starship spacecraft was on track to return to its Texas launch site for a planned mid-air catch, after an aborted recovery attempt.
SpaceX said its Starship spacecraft was "healthy" as it orbited the Earth and on track to return Saturday to its Texas launch site, where Elon Musk's company was planning to "catch" the vehicle for the first time.
It was the 15th test flight of the world's biggest and most powerful rocket system, originally meant to feature a groundbreaking twin capture of both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship.
Successful recoveries of both stages would have marked a milestone in the space industry's decades-long pursuit of fully reusable rocket systems that can drastically reduce mission costs and make frequent launches possible.
But that achievement slipped out of reach minutes after the 124-meter (407-foot) rocket blasted off Friday from its launch pad at Starbase.
After the mid-air separation of the two stages, the Super Heavy booster was descending when its guidance, navigation and control system aborted the capture attempt.
"The booster was not in the place that it was supposed to be to proceed with the catch," SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot said, adding that engineers were still investigating the root cause.
Super Heavy, which SpaceX had caught three times previously, diverted to the Gulf of Mexico just off…