SpaceX catches Starship booster in 'Mechazilla arms' in historic first

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SpaceX catches Starship booster in successful fifth test flight

Highlights from SpaceX's fifth orbital test flight of the Starship spaceship show the launch, separation and the first successful catch of the Super Heavy Booster in Texas on Oct. 13, 2024.

BOCA CHICA, Texas – SpaceX delivered on its promise of another "exciting" test of its Starship spaceship in South Texas on Sunday as Elon Musk's company caught a 230-foot rocket booster with massive chopsticks from the same launch tower where it launched minutes prior. 

Starship launched from SpaceX's Starbase launchpad just before 7:30 a.m. CT on Sunday as thousands of spectators and boaters looked on from the Texas Gulf Coast near South Padre Island.

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SpaceX added another milestone to its Starship testing on Sunday, successfully catching the rocket booster using the "chopstick"-like arms of the launch tower, where the rocket had launched just five minutes prior. 

Starship's Super Heavy Booster is grappled at the launch pad in Starbase near Boca Chica, Texas, on October 13, 2024, during the Starship Flight 5 test. SpaceX successfully "caught" the first-stage booster of its Starship megarocket Sunday as it returned to the launch pad after a test flight, a world first in the company's quest for rapid reusability. (Photo by SERGIO FLORES / AFP) (Photo by SERGIO FLORES/AFP via Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

Sonic booms rattled across South Texas as the flaming booster's engines shut down one-by-one, going down from dozens to three Raptor engines before a graceful halt at the launch tower when SpaceX's "Megazilla" arms closed in around the booster.

"Thousands of distinct vehicle and pad criteria had to be met prior to the catch attempt, and thanks to the tireless work of SpaceX engineers, we succeeded with catch on our first attempt," SpaceX said in a statement. 

Deafening cheers could be heard from SpaceX's mission control in Hawthorne, California, and in South Texas as SpaceX's engineering team, hosting the launch webstream, attempted to gather their thoughts after the science-fiction moment became a reality.

"This is absolutely insane!" SpaceX engineer and livestream host Kate Tice said. "On the first ever attempt we have successfully caught the super heavy booster back at the launch tower."

"I'm sorry, even at this day and age, what we just saw looked like magic," SpaceX host Dan Huot said. 

"This is a day for the engineering history books," Tice added.

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While the excitement hit a crescendo only five minutes after liftoff, the test flight continued as Starship reached orbit and continued on a cruise phase. After more than one hour in space, the Starship came down for a soft landing in the Indian Ocean. Tice said the goal for this test flight was a "softer" landing than the previous one in June.

In the next few years, the nearly 400-foot-tall rocket and spacecraft are expected to carry a crew of astronauts to the Moon’s south pole as part of NASA's Artemis program.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX on the recent successful test.

"Congratulations to SpaceX on its successful booster catch and fifth Starship flight test today! As we prepare to go back to the Moon under Artemis, continued testing will prepare us for the bold missions that lie ahead -- including to the South Pole region of the Moon and then on to Mars," Nelson wrote on X. 

NASA leadership has said SpaceX will need to complete dozens of test flights prior to launching astronauts for the space agency.