SpaceX aims for first double catch of Starship in its most ambitious test flight yet

SpaceX is launching Starship into orbit on Friday in its boldest test yet: a 22-hour flight that aims to recapture the entire rocket in a move meant to accelerate moon and Mars travel.If all goes well, the massive booster will return to its Texas pad six minutes after blasting off and the bullet-shaped spacecraft will steer there the next day. Both will be plucked from midair by mechanical arms secured to the launch tower.Everything was on track for Friday's planned late afternoon launch of the world's biggest and most powerful rocket, pending Federal Aviation Administration approval.If Elon Musk and his team succeed, it will be the first time every single piece of a rocket that is launched into orbit gets retrieved for the purpose of recycling. Musk sees this leading to the kind of fast and consistent launch rates necessary for building moon bases and sending people to Mars.“It’s hard to describe how I’m going to feel when we pull this off,” SpaceX’s Kiko Dontchev, vice president of l