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 launch, said at a NASA tech summit last week at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. “It’s so incredibly exciting. It’s such a feat of engineering.”

Once in orbit, Starship will deliver 26 of the company’s most advanced Starlink satellites. The plan is for Starship to complete 15 laps around the world at an altitude of around 170 miles (275 kilometers) before heading back to the launch site for Saturday’s grand finale.

SpaceX has already made three booster grabs at the company’s sprawling Starbase near the U.S.-Mexico border. This will be the first attempt to capture the upgraded version that stretches 236 feet (72 meters) — the production model for moon and Mars travel. It will also be the first time the company attempts to catch the spacecraft, which spans 171 feet (52 meters).

The spacecraft portion of the 14 previous Starships ended up in the ocean, either by design at flight’s end or by accident in a stream of flaming wreckage. During the first full-scale test flight in 2023, multiple engines failed to ignite and the tumbling rocket's self-destruct system was activated.

The last test, in September, was the first to reach orbit, but SpaceX did not try to recover any of the rocket stages.

SpaceX plans to start launching Starships from Florida within a few months and from Louisiana in a few years. Scaled-up infrastructure, combined with full rocket reusability, is “how you go from zero launches to 10 to 100 to 1,000 to 10,000 to 100,000,” Dontchev said.

SpaceX’s smaller Falcon rockets will continue to fly from Cape Canaveral, carrying astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA and from California carrying Starlinks. Satellites also will keep hitching Falcon rides for now. Musk wants Starships to eventually replace Falcons.

Falcon rockets “are still not fully reusable. We still throw that second stage away every single flight. Starship, we’re going to catch both the first stage and second stage,” Dontchev said.

NASA is paying SpaceX billions of dollars to land Artemis astronauts on the moon with Starships. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is the other major player. NASA expects to decide a year before the Artemis IV lunar landing — the first by astronauts in more than half a century — whether to get the moonwalkers to the surface with Musk’s Starship or Bezos’ Blue Moon.

During next summer’s Artemis III mission, astronauts will practice docking their capsule with a Blue Moon and then a Starship in orbit around Earth. That will set the stage for an Artemis moon touchdown as early as 2028.

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SpaceX's mega rocket Starship is stacked and prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

People gather to watch as SpaceX's mega rocket Starship, getting stacked and prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

SpaceX's mega rocket Starship is stacked and prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

SpaceX's mega rocket Starship is stacked and prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

SpaceX's mega rocket Starship is stacked and prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — From the moment Manchester United executives were made aware of Mauricio Pochettino’s availability, he stood alone — the only candidate as the troubled club set about hiring a new coach.

With results tanking and the 20-time English champion languishing in the Premier League relegation zone, something had to be done.

Who could revive the fortunes of the once dominant force after more than a decade of decline?

In the end it came down to a choice of one. Unfortunately for the U.S. men's national team, it was Pochettino.

On Friday, the Argentine was confirmed as United’s eighth manager or head coach since club great Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. He has signed a two and a half-year contract.

United's hierarchy had initially assumed Pochettino, like Aston Villa's Unai Emery, was out of reach.

Emery also has big admirers at United after transforming Villa from a relegation-threatened team to a serial Champions League challenger, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to protect relationships. But the Spaniard, under contract and without a release clause, was simply not an option.

The same was thought of Pochettino after he signed a four-year deal in August tying him to the U.S. team through the 2030 World Cup.

United knew him well. He had been a leading candidate for the job in 2022 when Erik ten Hag was ultimately hired. And he left a lasting impression as recently as the summer of 2024 when, under a new sporting leadership, United considered firing Ten Hag and spoke to a range of contenders, Pochettino included.

It was determined then — on both sides — that the timing wasn't right so soon after his brief spell in charge of Chelsea, the person said.

Now, with Pochettino re-energized by his experiences with the U.S., including a run to the round of 16 at this year’s World Cup, the timing is right.

“We recovered our capacity to dream big, the capacity to train players that really want to improve and really want to share good moments and players that really care about the federation and this country," Pochettino said in an emotional news conference at the U.S. team camp outside Atlanta.

United set about securing the former Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea coach once it was made aware of a break clause in his recently signed contract, with due diligence carried out before incumbent Michael Carrick was fired on Thursday.

Confident that Pochettino wanted to take on what has increasingly looked like an impossible job, it was a matter of informing the U.S. soccer federation of its intention to move for a coach, who did so much galvanize the nation during the World Cup. That formal approach came on Wednesday, the night before Carrick was relieved of his duties, the person said.

By that stage rumors had already been swirling around Pochettino and the odds on him to become United's eighth permanent coach or manager in 13 years had been slashed. He was the only candidate United spoke to directly, despite reported interest in Julian Nagelsmann, Eddie Howe and Antonio Conte.

The 54-year-old Argentine is “renowned for his high-intensity, attacking style of football, his dedication to building strong, cohesive teams and his outstanding record of developing individual players,” and had “consistently performed at the highest level of football across multiple leagues,” United said when announcing his appointment Friday.

There has been criticism of United's handling of the process, making Carrick wait until Thursday to learn his fate that had been long-trailed.

The delay had been due to various reasons. Firstly, no decision could be made until an internal review had been carried out. The person said Carrick had been kept informed about the process.

It wasn't until a meeting with minority owner Jim Ratcliffe in Monaco on Wednesday that chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox made the recommendation to change the coach and the decision was made. Berrada and Wilcox returned to Manchester on Wednesday night and rather than inform Carrick by phone, chose to tell him face-to-face at a meeting at the club's training ground on Thursday morning, according to the person's description of events.

It is unlikely to have come as a surprise to Carrick, even if he was less than six months into a two-year contract.

He had overseen United's worst start for 40 years. With only one win in 10 games the 20-time English champion sits 18th in the standings, in the relegation zone.

Another person with knowledge of the decision-making process said the results were simply “not acceptable for Manchester United” and a change had to be made.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to do so publicly.

Pochettino, the person said, had the right a “philosophy, personality and skill set” that was the right fit for the role. His “outstanding record of individual talent development and history of building excellent team cultures” were also reasons behind his appointment.

His first game in charge will be against Liverpool on Nov. 22. He will be the latest in a long line of candidates charged with the responsibility of bringing the good times back to a club that for so long dominated English soccer.

United has not won the Premier League title since Ferguson's final season in 2013 and has been overtaken by rivals like Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Pochettino, who won the French title with PSG and turned Tottenham into a Premier League title challenger, had an underwhelming experience when last in England for one season with Chelsea in 2023-24.

Chelsea ended sixth in the standings, missing out on Champions League qualification and beaten by Liverpool in the final of the English League Cup to leave Pochettino still without a major trophy in English soccer.

Both United and Pochettino will hope that, together, they can snap that streak.

James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

See AP’s full soccer coverage here

FILE - United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino listens to a question during a press conference ahead of his FIFA World Cup match against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., Thursday, June 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

U.S. Men's National Soccer Team head coach Mauricio Pochettino walks on the pitch during practice, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, in Fayetteville, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

FILE - United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino gestures as he walks off the pitch after United States defeated Bosnia in the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between the United States and Bosnia in Santa Clara, Calif., near San Francisco, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

FILE - United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino celebrates with his players following the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between the United States and Bosnia in Santa Clara, Calif., near San Francisco, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

FILE - United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino looks on during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match against Belgium in Seattle, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)