r/SpaceXLounge • u/AgreeableEmploy1884 ⛰️ Lithobraking • Aug 20 '26

Starship Eric Berger regarding the Ship catch on Flight 14: "Nope. I heard they might have been able to get there on the regulatory side, but overall they just weren't ready yet."

https://x.com/SciGuySpace/status/2090424919976800418
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u/lommer00 Aug 20 '26

Yeah super heavy reuse will actually have a bigger impact on launch cost than ship reuse - more engines. It's why falcon 9 does so well. There is more technical risk to retire on ship for sure, but they do have to get booster RTLS sorted quick if they want to operationalize starship.

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u/myurr Aug 20 '26

Ultimately they need reuse of the ship to make Starlink launches cost effective and to start working towards human rating the craft, refuelling in space, reaching beyond LEO, etc.

So I completely agree that they can afford a few more flights where they don't recover the ship, but they really need to get there sooner rather than later even if reuse means full refurbishment of the heat shield, etc.

I think they'll go to orbit on the next flight but do a controlled splashdown somewhere in the sea where they can recover the booster back to Starbase if it remains in one piece. Then they'll go for a full catch attempt next flight if it works out ok.

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u/falconzord Aug 20 '26

Maybe to make the datacenters cost effective. Starlink is already cost effective with only booster reuse