SpaceX catches Starship rocket in historic first recovery from orbit

🗞️ Story file #1827

SpaceX catches Starship rocket in historic first recovery from orbit

Nov 13, 4 PM ET to Nov 14, 8 PM ET

👣 How this story traveled: from the front pages that broke it, out through TV, radio and the shows, into what people retold and what fact-checkers examined, and on into the saga it is part of. Everything here is matched to the story by our tools, so a link can be wrong; the trackers' pages say how each is made.

26front pages over its life
🫏12 · 4 · 10🐘left · center · right
1.2 dayson the front pages
24front pages at once, at its peak
53 minof TV captions
8radio newscasts

📰 read it at: HuffPost AP Axios CBS News CNBC CNN Los Angeles Times NBC News NPR PBS NewsHour USA Today Yahoo News BBC Financial Times MarketWatch Reuters Fox Business Just the News The Epoch Times New York Post Newsmax Red State The Daily Wire The Gateway Pundit The National Desk The Western Journal

Nov 12, 3 PM ET
first on a front page: CNN
Nov 13, 8 PM ET
the news that day, Financial Times:
“SpaceX aborts attempt to catch Starship booster rocket”
Nov 13, 9 PM ET
first on the radio: NPR News Now
Nov 14, 1 AM ET
first on TV: BBC News
Nov 14, 5 PM ET
the news that day, NPR:
“SpaceX successfully catches Starship and makes history”
Nov 14, 8 PM ET
peak: on 24 front pages at once

the front pages that ran it, hour by hour

Front pages carrying it each hour, by the outlets' lean, the side that had it first at the bottom:leftleans leftcenterleans rightright. First: CNN, Thu 3:01 PM ET.

Who carried it and when: each outlet in the order it picked the story up, a bar for each headline from when we first saw it on the front page to when we last did, in the outlet's lean color (dashed: not rated); a dot marks a new headline, and a headline swapped for a new one between our hourly looks runs on to it. A gap means a look found the story gone from that front page. Beneath, its captions on TV, the radio newscasts that carried it (bigger: the lead) and when people were found retelling it. Hover for details.

1Fri 8 PM“SpaceX aborts attempt to catch Starship booster rocket”Financial Times
2Sat 5 PM“SpaceX successfully catches Starship and makes history”NPR

💬 Quoted

“Can you believe it?”1
“We Caught a Starship and Now Everything Changes”1
“holy grail”1

phrases its headlines put in quotation marks; the bar is how many outlets did

📌 Linked by aggregators

2 Google News · Political Wire

aggregators linking to it from their front page (they don't count as outlets covering it)

▸ ✏️ 18 outlets ran more than one headline on it (reworded, or a follow-up)

AP (3 wordings): “SpaceX’s attempt for a Starship double catch is thwarted when the booster ends up in Gulf of Mexico” → “SpaceX’s Starship soars into orbit after booster explosion prevents an unprecedented double catch”
BBC (4 wordings): “SpaceX to attempt double catch of huge Starship rocket” → “'Can you believe it?': SpaceX catches part of its Starship rocket on return to Earth”
CBS News (2 wordings): “SpaceX launches first-of-its-kind Starship test flight” → “SpaceX pulls off first Starship recovery from orbit in spectacular fashion”
CNN (2 wordings): “Science SpaceX is about to attempt something never achieved in the history of rocketry. Here are the risks” → “SPACEX set to make audacious grab for 'holy grail' of rocketry...”
Financial Times (3 wordings): “SpaceX aborts attempt to catch Starship rocket after booster fails” → “SpaceX catches returning Starship rocket in breakthrough for Musk”
Fox Business (2 wordings): “SpaceX pulls off historic Starship catch after 22-hour orbital flight” → “SpaceX makes history as Starship spacecraft caught by launch tower for first time”
HuffPost (2 wordings): “SpaceX’s Starship Soars Into Orbit After Double Catch Thwarted By Booster Malfunction” → “SpaceX’s Starship Returns From Orbit And Is Captured By Launch Pad Arms In A Dramatic First”
Los Angeles Times (2 wordings): “SpaceX’s Starship soars into orbit after booster explosion foils unprecedented maneuver” → “SpaceX’s Starship, after mishap, returns from orbit and is captured by launchpad”
MarketWatch (2 wordings): “SpaceX is about to attempt the ‘holy grail’ of rocketry” → “SpaceX successfully catches Starship rocket in huge milestone for the space industry”
NBC News (4 wordings): “SpaceX launches 15th Starship flight; aborts booster recovery maneuver” → “SpaceX’s Starship returns from orbit and is captured by launchpad arms in dramatic first”
New York Post (2 wordings): “Space blast SpaceX’s Starship soars into orbit — after booster explodes in Gulf of Mexico” → “SpaceX’s Starship soars into orbit — after booster explodes in Gulf of Mexico”
Newsmax (2 wordings): “SpaceX to Attempt First Starship Catch on Land” → “SpaceX Starship Returns to Earth in Historic Catch”
PBS NewsHour (2 wordings): “SpaceX's Starship soars into orbit after booster malfunction thwarts double catch attempt” → “SpaceX's Starship returns from orbit and is captured by launch pad arms in a dramatic first”
Reuters (4 wordings): “SpaceX to launch 15th Starship flight, seeking to achieve unprecedented round trip” → “SpaceX Starship returns to landing pad from orbit, acing test for reusable rockets”
The Daily Wire (2 wordings): “SpaceX Aims For Historic First In Daring Starship Recovery Attempt” → “SpaceX Makes History With Starship Catch After Booster Bails On Landing”
The Epoch Times (2 wordings): “SpaceX Starship Completes 1st Successful Orbital Flight” → “SpaceX Sends 2nd Starship Into Orbit, Aborts Booster Catch at Launchpad”
The Gateway Pundit (2 wordings): “WATCH: SpaceX Booster Explodes During Test Flight at Starbase” → “Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s Starship Flight 15 Makes Spectacular Landing ‘We Caught a Starship and Now Everything Changes’ (Video)”
Yahoo News (2 wordings): “SpaceX's Starship test takes a fiery turn, but another big challenge awaits” → “SpaceX catches Starship at launch pad 22 hours after liftoff in a dramatic first”

📰 Every outlet's headline 26left to right by AllSides rating

HuffPost🕒 Nov 13, 7 PM ET SpaceX’s Starship Soars Into Orbit After Double Catch Thwarted By Booster Malfunction
AP🕒 Nov 13, 7 PM ET SpaceX’s attempt for a Starship double catch is thwarted when the booster ends up in Gulf of Mexico
Axios🕒 Nov 13, 12 PM ET SpaceX will try catching its massive Starship rocket for the first time
CBS News🕒 Nov 13, 7 PM ET SpaceX launches first-of-its-kind Starship test flight
CNBC🕒 Nov 13, 7 PM ET SpaceX launches Starship in key test flight of massive rocket
CNN🕒 Nov 12, 3 PM ET Science SpaceX is about to attempt something never achieved in the history of rocketry. Here are the risks
Los Angeles Times🕒 Nov 14, 12 PM ET SpaceX’s Starship soars into orbit after booster explosion foils unprecedented maneuver
NBC News🕒 Nov 13, 8 PM ET SpaceX launches 15th Starship flight; aborts booster recovery maneuver
NPR🕒 Nov 14, 5 PM ET SpaceX successfully catches Starship and makes history
PBS NewsHour🕒 Nov 13, 8 PM ET SpaceX's Starship soars into orbit after booster malfunction thwarts double catch attempt
USA Today🕒 Nov 14, 6 PM ET SpaceX catches Starship, making space history
Yahoo News🕒 Nov 14, 6 AM ET SpaceX's Starship test takes a fiery turn, but another big challenge awaits
BBC🕒 Nov 13, 4 PM ET SpaceX to attempt double catch of huge Starship rocket
Financial Times🕒 Nov 13, 7 PM ET SpaceX aborts attempt to catch Starship rocket after booster fails
MarketWatch🕒 Nov 13, 12 PM ET SpaceX is about to attempt the ‘holy grail’ of rocketry
Reuters🕒 Nov 13, 4 PM ET SpaceX to launch 15th Starship flight, seeking to achieve unprecedented round trip
Fox Business🕒 Nov 14, 7 PM ET SpaceX pulls off historic Starship catch after 22-hour orbital flight
Just the News🕒 Nov 14, 6 PM ET SpaceX catches rocket returning from orbit in historic feat
The Epoch Times🕒 Nov 13, 11 PM ET SpaceX Starship Completes 1st Successful Orbital Flight
New York Post🕒 Nov 14, 7 AM ET Space blast SpaceX’s Starship soars into orbit — after booster explodes in Gulf of Mexico
Newsmax🕒 Nov 13, 8 AM ET SpaceX to Attempt First Starship Catch on Land
Red State🕒 Nov 14, 7 PM ET Stunning Space Views, Then Historic Achievement As Starship Is Caught by Mechazilla
The Daily Wire🕒 Nov 13, 5 PM ET SpaceX Aims For Historic First In Daring Starship Recovery Attempt
The Gateway Pundit🕒 Nov 13, 10 PM ET WATCH: SpaceX Booster Explodes During Test Flight at Starbase
The National Desk🕒 Nov 14, 8 PM ET SpaceX catches Starship after orbit in historic first as booster explodes over Gulf
The Western Journal🕒 Nov 14, 8 PM ET Breaking: Musk's SpaceX Catches Its Own Starship Falling Back to Earth in Historic First

TV, radio, and the shows that talked about it

leans left
center
right

minutes its captions were on screen, by channel; the disc is the network's lean

hourly newscasts that carried it, by show; beside the count, how often it was the lead story, or the highest it came in the running order

podcasts, newsletters and streams that talked about it, by show; the bar is episodes; the disc is the show's lean by reputation

🕵️ investigative reporting on it and 🃏 satire joking about it (jokes, never counted as coverage); the bar is pieces

No investigator or satirist matched to it yet.

what people online made of it

Nobody's retelling it online yet, as far as the daily reports of the last week can tell.

🗣️ Names in it

SpaceXStarship

what the fact-checkers looked into

No fact-checker has taken it on yet.

the running story it belongs to

A story of its own so far: no saga yet.

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SpaceX catches Starship rocket in historic first recovery from orbit

📰 Spread

📡 Broadcast

📺 On TV

📻 On the radio

🎙️ On the shows

🕵️ Investigated, joked about

🧶 Retelling

🔎 Checking

🧵 Persistence