SpaceX catches returning rocket booster with giant 'chopstick' arms
In a first for spaceflight, the company guided its Super Heavy booster back to the launch tower, which caught it in mid-air.
SpaceX pulled off a remarkable feat of engineering on Sunday, catching the returning booster of its giant Starship rocket out of the air with a pair of massive mechanical arms mounted on the launch tower — a manoeuvre never before attempted and a key step toward rapid rocket reuse.
During the fifth test flight of the Starship system from South Texas, the Super Heavy booster lifted the upper stage toward space, then separated and flew back toward the launch site. Rather than splashing down in the ocean as in previous tests, it slowed with its engines and descended with precision into the embrace of the tower's two steel arms, nicknamed "chopsticks", which clamped around it as it hovered.
Engineers and onlookers erupted in disbelief and celebration. Catching the booster with the tower, rather than landing it on legs, is central to SpaceX's vision of a fully and rapidly reusable rocket that could be refuelled and flown again with minimal refurbishment, dramatically lowering the cost of reaching space.
The Starship system is the most powerful rocket ever built and is intended to carry cargo and people to the Moon and Mars. NASA has selected a version of it to land astronauts on the lunar surface.
The successful catch, achieved on the first attempt, was a striking demonstration of how far the technology had come since the rocket's fiery debut, and a glimpse of a future in which giant rockets might be reused like aircraft.