SpaceX successfully ‘catches’ Starship rocket booster in rare engineering feat

Elon Musk-owned SpaceX on Sunday successfully intercepted the returning booster back of its Starship rocket by using the mechanical arms in its launch pad, achieving a tremendous feat.

This is the first time the company has recovered the rocket booster right on its launch pad rather than landing it on floating ocean platforms. SpaceX has been recovering the first-stage boosters of its smaller Falcon 9 rockets in this manner for almost nine years.

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Musk shared the stunning video from the exact moment in the social media platform X, owned by him. The returning booster of the Starship rocket was safely caught by the mechanical arms of its launch pad, seven minutes after its launch. The launch tower sported monstrous metal arms, dubbed chopsticks, that caught the descending 232-foot (71-meter) booster.

Engineers at the company were thrilled at their feat. “Even in this day and age, what we just saw is magic. I am shaking right now,” said SpaceX's Dan Huot, who observed the landing from near the launch site.

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

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First successful recovery on the launch pad itself has ignited the hopes of enthusiasts for space tourism and a safe landing on Earth during return from space.

India's Anand Mahindra shared his excitement in a post on X. “And this Sunday, I’m happy to be a couch potato, if it means that I get to watch history being made. This experiment may just be the critical moment when space travel was democratised and made routine. Where can I buy my ticket, @elonmusk?,” he wrote.

SpaceX achieved this feat during the fifth test flight of Starship rocket. This “catch-landing” method is the company's latest advance in its pursuit to develop fully reusable rocket that can lift more cargo into space orbit. Musk also envisions to ferry humans to moon and eventually the Mars using reusable launch vehicles.

(With inputs from AP, Reuters)

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