Why has SpaceX stopped landing Starship’s booster at Starbase?

By Trevor Mogg Published October 9, 2025

SpaceX is planning to fly its massive Starship rocket — the most powerful ever built — for the 11th time on Monday, October 13.

The 123-meter-tall rocket will lift off from SpaceX’s Starbase site near Boca Chica, Texas, creating a colossal 17 million pounds of thrust as it roars toward space.

Following stage separation, the upper-stage Ship spacecraft will take a suborbital route before attempting a soft, controlled landing in the Indian Ocean, similar to the one it achieved on its 10th flight in August.

The first-stage Super Heavy will also aim for a soft, controlled landing on water, rather than heading back to the launch site.

The Starship’s fifth, seventh, and eighth flight tests saw the 71-meter-tall Super Heavy booster nail spectacular landings back at Starbase just minutes after sending the Ship on its way. The autonomous landing involves giant mechanical arms on the launch tower securing the booster just meters above the ground. Landing it in this way allows SpaceX to use the Super Heavy multiple times, drastically reducing mission costs.

So why have the Super Heavy’s more recent flights targeted water landings, depriving fans of that astonishing Starbase landing?

The reason is that SpaceX has been testing a more efficient descent that uses a higher angle of attack. The ocean landing eliminates the risk of damage to the launch site in the event of a major anomaly occurring during the rocket’s descent.

It’s not clear when SpaceX will start bringing the Super Heavy back to Starbase, but we won’t be surprised to see it happening again some time next year. The Elon Musk-led spaceflight company also wants to land the Ship back at Starbase, so fans can look forward to witnessing a double-landing event within an hour of launch.

Once operational, the Starship will be used for crew and cargo flights to the moon, and even Mars.

If you’re interested in watching a livestream of Monday’s flight test, Digital Trends has all the information you need to know.