SpaceX Successfully Lands Starship Booster with Mechanical Arms

SpaceX Starship Launch

SpaceX launched its enormous Starship rocket on Sunday, achieving its most daring test flight yet by successfully catching the returning booster with mechanical arms at the launch pad.

The nearly 400-foot (121-meter) tall, empty Starship ascended from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border, at sunrise. Its trajectory mirrored the four previous Starships, which met their demise either shortly after liftoff or during a descent into the sea. The last attempt in June was the most successful to date, completing its flight without exploding.

This time, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk significantly increased the challenge and risk. The company brought the first-stage booster back to land at the launch pad, seven minutes after its launch. The launch tower was equipped with massive metal arms, nicknamed “chopsticks,” which successfully captured the descending 232-foot (71-meter) booster.

“Are you kidding me?” SpaceX’s Dan Huot exclaimed with excitement from near the launch site. “I am shaking right now.”

“This is a day for the engineering history books,” added SpaceX’s Kate Tice from SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

The decision to attempt the landing was made by the flight director in real time, using manual control. SpaceX emphasized that both the booster and launch tower had to be in good, stable condition for the landing attempt. Otherwise, the booster would have ended up in the gulf like its predecessors. All conditions were deemed suitable for the catch.

After separating from the booster, the retro-looking stainless steel spacecraft continued its journey around the world, targeting a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The June flight ended prematurely after parts detached. SpaceX upgraded the software and reworked the heat shield, enhancing the thermal tiles.

For nine years, SpaceX has been recovering the first-stage boosters of its smaller Falcon 9 rockets after delivering satellites and crews to orbit from Florida or California. However, these boosters land on floating ocean platforms or on concrete slabs several miles away from their launch pads, not on them.

Recycling Falcon boosters has accelerated the launch rate and saved SpaceX millions. Musk intends to replicate this success with Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, boasting 33 methane-fuel engines on the booster alone. NASA has ordered two Starships to land astronauts on the moon later this decade. SpaceX aims to use Starship to transport people and supplies to the moon and eventually Mars.