‘Almost magic’ as SpaceX craft caught mid-air: Why it matters

Résumé détaillé

SpaceX's Starship successfully returned to its launchpad after orbiting in space.

On a cloudy Saturday afternoon in the southern US state of Texas, a pair of large metallic arms stretched out and caught a giant in midair as it descended from the sky.

At 124 metres (407ft) tall, SpaceX’s Starship is the world’s largest and most powerful rocket, intended for travel to the Moon and Mars. Yet 22 hours after its latest blast off into space, it made history on Earth while returning, as it slipped smoothly between mechanical “chopstick arms” above Launch Pad 2 at Starbase city in Texas.

Aerospace engineers across the globe have lauded the first-ever capture of the upper stage of a spaceship and welcomed the achievement, which signals that mega rockets could soon be fully reusable.

On Saturday, after orbiting Earth 14 times for 22.5 hours, SpaceX’s Starship emerged from thick clouds over its Starbase launch site, flipped itself to a vertical position and slowly descended into the arms on the ‘Mechazilla’ launch tower.

Like massive tweezers, the arms caught the upper stage of the spacecraft in midair, while its engines were still roaring.

The spacecraft then hooked onto the tower’s mechanical arms and shut off its engines.

The roaring sound was instantly replaced by loud cheers from watchers nearby – they had just seen for the first time in history the capture of a mega rocket.

“That was the missing link, the holy grail of spaceflight,” said SpaceX mission commentator Dan Huot. “We caught a Starship and now everything changes.”

“Congratulations to an incredible team at SpaceX!!!” SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said.

Début de l'article, extrait de Al Jazeera. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.