SpaceX launches Starship rocket and catches booster in giant metal arms.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX achieved a significant milestone on Sunday by catching the massive booster stage from its Starship rocket in a pair of robotic arms as it fell back to the company’s launchpad in southern Texas.
The historic feat, which drew praise from astronauts and space experts, topped a successful fifth test flight for the uncrewed Starship, which blasted off from the Boca Chica starbase at 7.25am local time (1325 BST) on Sunday.
As the rocket’s 71-metre (233ft) Super Heavy booster separated 40 miles (65km) above the Earth, the upper stage pushed on to an altitude of nearly 90 miles, looping around the planet at 17,000 mph before splashing down in the Indian Ocean as planned.
SpaceX staff erupted in cheers and applause as the falling booster reignited three of its Raptor engines, slowed its rapid descent and swung towards the “mechazilla” launch tower, where it was held fast by the mechanical arms, labelled “chopsticks”.
It is the first time SpaceX has attempted the bold manoeuvre, one it sees as crucial to its goal of developing fully reusable rockets capable of ferrying humans, scientific equipment and supplies to the moon and onwards to Mars.
“Are you kidding me?” said Dan Huot, SpaceX’s communications manager, who was left shaking at the spectacle. “What we just saw, that looked like magic.”
“This is a day for the engineering history books,” added Kate Tice, a quality systems engineer at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
