They called it off because it was running lower on fuel than they expected - the margins are crazy thin. You can see a green burst of flame near the end, which is what happens when you run oxygen rich/fuel poor (also called "engine-rich" - iirc the green flame is copper from the engine as the oxidizer-rich mix causes it to run hot).
[−]hackeraccount · 2026-11-15 Sun 05:20 UTC ·
link
I think it's a supposition that the reason they didn't catch the booster was that it couldn't get back to the chopsticks. I don't think SpaceX described the issues as that ... it would seem sort of strange if it was because the seemingly planned a catch for it so you'd think they would have a good handle on the fuel required. It's possible they didn't fully understand that requirement though.