SpaceX catches Starship midair after return from orbit

Detailed summary

SpaceX's Starship has returned to Earth from orbit and has - for the first time - been caught by giant mechanical arms on the launch tower Texas.

SpaceX has caught the upper stage of its giant Starship rocket system for the first time after it returned to Earth from a test flight into space.

About 20 hours after launch, the Starship returned to the Starbase spaceport in southern Texas, where mechanical arms on the launch tower caught it. It was the first time SpaceX had attempted such a catch.

The test flight had earlier suffered a setback, when its lower stage splashed down in the sea and burst into flames instead of being caught by the launch tower as planned.

The company, owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, initially gave no information about the possible cause of the failure. The lower stage, known as the Super Heavy booster, had been successfully caught during three previous test flights.

The upper stage, also called Starship, entered Earth's orbit shortly after separating from the booster and deployed satellites for SpaceX's internet service Starlink. It then orbited the Earth several times.

Starship's last test flight took place in September, when the rocket reached Earth's orbit for the first time, before make a controlled splashdown in the Pacific Ocean about three hours later.

Standing around 120 metres tall, Starship is the largest rocket system ever built, with both stages designed to be reusable.

The system was first tested in April 2023, when it exploded completely after a few minutes. Subsequent tests have had mixed success.

NASA plans to use Starship to send astronauts to the moon, while SpaceX hopes eventually to reach Mars.

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