Starship clears the Gulf gate for a Boca Chica tower catch

FOX 7 Austin's SpaceX broadcast follows the final descent from glowing reentry to the tower's closing arms.

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FOX 7 Austin Story of November 15, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 72,382 views a day, 90 times a normal first day on this channel (808).

LIVE: SpaceX Starship returns to Earth

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0:46Hosts report that Ship 42 completed 14 orbits over roughly 22 hours before its return.
3:41Commentary describes peak heating, with heat-shield tiles and flap actuators managing reentry.
18:51Flight controllers confirm the spacecraft will proceed to Starbase for the tower catch.
20:30Mechazilla's arms catch Ship 42 after its landing burn and flip maneuver.
22:19Tyler Lionquist reports that the mission deployed 26 V3 Starlink satellites.

The permission to return comes before Starship emerges from the clouds. Flight controllers confirm it has passed the Gulf decision gate, and a host announces: "We are going to return to the tower."

FOX 7 Austin's broadcast carries SpaceX's coverage of Ship 42's homecoming, with onboard cameras showing the glow of atmospheric reentry and ground cameras waiting at Starbase. The spacecraft has spent almost a day orbiting Earth before this final approach to South Texas.

Below the clouds, the sequence moves quickly: a landing burn, a flip to bring the ship upright, then alignment with the tower. Mechazilla's mechanical arms catch it as SpaceX staff watching at Starbase, Hawthorne and Redmond erupt in cheers.

The upload drew about 29,000 views in seven hours, far beyond the station's usual first-day audience for a regular video. In the comments, older viewers put the moment in the context of their own lifetimes; one reaches back to Apollo 11 as a point of comparison.

The broadcast also supplies the mission's less theatrical detail: before returning, Ship 42 deployed a batch of V3 Starlink satellites into orbit.

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What viewers say

That is simply amazing. I'm crying as I type this. I'm glad I've lived long enough to see this at 77.
@tfokeefeSee it on YouTube
That’s the best thing I’ve seen since the moon landing Apollo 11 Well done space X we’ve been waiting for along time
@colinwoodward1479See it on YouTube
Loved the landing great job folks !!!!
@mickeykelly7421See it on YouTube

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