SpaceX’s Starship captured by launchpad arms in dramatic first

Detailed summary

SpaceX officials say catch by mechanical arms shows Starship's full reusability, crucial for rapid, low-cost recycling.

SpaceX’s Starship ‌spacecraft has returned to Earth, caught midair by giant mechanical arms where its journey began 22 hours earlier.

The spaceship emerged from a cloudy sky on Saturday, descending slowly over Starbase before slipping smoothly between mechanical “chopstick arms” above Launch Pad 2 in Texas – the first-ever capture of a Starship flying back from space.

Soon afterwards, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk congratulated his “incredible team”.

SpaceX officials said Saturday’s catch demonstrates Starship’s full reusability, crucial for rapid, low-cost recycling.

However, with the first-stage booster exploding shortly after Friday’s liftoff from Texas, the company fell short of its desired double catch.

Separating neatly from its booster before things went awry, the upper-stage spacecraft soared into orbit and released 26 advanced Starlink satellites.

SpaceX’s Kate Tice said its engines stopped firing too soon on the way back down. The booster’s guidance system sensed it was not in the right position and automatically initiated the watery detour and self-destruction. Engineers are still investigating the cause.

Although Friday’s booster recovery failed, the company had already made three previous booster catches, validating the technique.

NASA, which is paying billions of dollars for Starship to land Artemis astronauts on the Moon later this decade, welcomed the achievement.

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