SpaceX is preparing for one of the most ambitious tests in the history of reusable spaceflight: an attempt to recover both major parts of its Starship launch system after an orbital flight.
The company plans to catch not only the Super Heavy booster, the massive first stage powered by 33 Raptor engines, but also the Starship upper stage, which uses six Raptor engines. If successful, the mission would mark the first time every major part of an orbital-class rocket returns to Earth intact and ready for potential reuse.
Elon Musk described the attempt as a key step toward making humanity multiplanetary. The logic is simple: rockets become far more economical when they can fly again and again instead of being discarded after each mission.
At the moment, building a full Starship system is estimated to cost SpaceX around $100 million. The Starship upper stage alone accounts for roughly $40 million of that amount. Those figures make full reusability extremely important. If SpaceX can recover and reuse both stages across dozens of flights, the manufacturing cost of each vehicle can be spread over many launches.
That could dramatically reduce the cost of a Starship mission. Musk has suggested that, with full reuse, per-flight costs could eventually fall into the range of $2 million to $10 million. Most of that expense would come from fuel, operations, and labor, rather than building new hardware for every launch.
For comparison, if a $100 million rocket system were reused 100 times, the hardware cost would effectively average out to about $1 million per flight. That kind of cost reduction is why Starship is central to SpaceX’s long-term plans for lunar missions, Mars settlement, satellite deployment, and large-scale cargo transportation beyond Earth.
The upcoming catch attempt is therefore more than just a dramatic engineering challenge. It could be a turning point for the economics of space travel. A fully reusable orbital rocket system would allow SpaceX to launch more frequently, lower prices, and support missions that would otherwise be too expensive using traditional expendable rockets.
Musk also recently addressed SpaceX’s relationship with government contracts, saying the company’s revenue from government sources is expected to become a much smaller share of its overall business. According to Musk, government revenue is projected to account for less than 10% of SpaceX revenue this quarter and less than 5% within a year.
He argued that SpaceX provides the government with both strong performance and low pricing, while also saying the company would be willing to cancel contracts if the government no longer wanted them.
That statement comes at a time when SpaceX’s growing commercial business is becoming increasingly important. Starlink, the company’s satellite internet division, has expanded rapidly and is expected to play a major role in reducing SpaceX’s dependence on public-sector contracts. As Starlink revenue grows, SpaceX may have more financial flexibility and less exposure to political pressure tied to government spending.
The issue has drawn attention because Texas is crucial to both SpaceX and Tesla. SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas is central to the Starship program, while Tesla also maintains a significant presence in the state. Political shifts in Texas could therefore have implications for Musk’s companies, especially given the tense relationship between Musk and many Democratic officials in recent years.
Still, there are signs that the relationship may not be beyond repair. Some Texas political figures have expressed a more positive view of Musk’s companies and their role in jobs, innovation, and space exploration. That could help reduce friction at a time when SpaceX is attempting to scale up Starship operations.
For now, the biggest focus remains the next Starship flight. If SpaceX manages to catch both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage, it would represent a major milestone for reusable rocket technology. More importantly, it would move the company closer to its goal of making spaceflight cheaper, more frequent, and eventually capable of supporting human life on other worlds.
