SpaceX decides not to catch booster during rocket launch attended by Trump

SpaceX on Tuesday decided to change its plans mid-flight during a test launch of its Starship rocket to catch the booster in mechanical arms, despite President-elect Donald Trump being in the audience.

The Texas launch was the sixth test flight for the company's Starship since last year, but the first three exploded, according to the Associated Press. SpaceX and NASA are hoping to use the giant rocket to send people back to the moon, and eventually, land on Mars. 

SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot said the decision to pull the booster catch was made four minutes into the flight because not every criteria for the catch was met, but he did not specify what exactly went wrong. The booster, which was successfully caught by the mechanical arms last month, was directed to splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico instead.

The spacecraft went on the same route as the test launch in October, which saw it skimming space as it looped around the globe. But the launch occurred in the afternoon on Tuesday, instead of the morning like October's. The unmanned flight landed in the Indian Ocean an hour later.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.