CancelledUncrewed Mars landing 2018
“Planning to send Dragon to Mars as soon as 2018. Red Dragons will inform overall Mars architecture, details…”
“Later this year, if fate smiles upon SpaceX, the ship will be caught by the tower, just like the booster”
— Elon Musk · May 14, 2025 · @elonmusk on X ↗
See his original post on XLoads Elon's actual tweet, right here.
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What actually happened
SpaceX did not catch the Starship upper stage with the tower in 2025; the first ship-catch attempt was pushed to the V3 era (Flight 13+), and Flight 12 (May 2026) made no catch attempt.
The Progression
May 14, 2025
The promise: “Later this year, if fate smiles upon SpaceX, the ship will be caught by the tower, just like the booster” · @elonmusk on X ↗
Dec 31, 2025
Deadline passed. SpaceX did not catch the Starship upper stage with the tower in 2025; the first ship-catch attempt was pushed to the V3 era (Flight 13+), and Flight 12 (May 2026) made no catch attempt.
Today · Jul 1, 2026
Status: Missed · 182 days past due. Never happened.
SpaceX did not catch the Starship upper stage with the tower in 2025; the first ship-catch attempt was pushed to the V3 era (Flight 13+), and Flight 12 (May 2026) made no catch attempt.
Receipts
LAST CHECKED 2026-07-01- [TWEET] @elonmusk on X
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