SpaceX achieved a major milestone in its pursuit of rapid rocket reusability on Sunday, successfully flying the first-stage booster of its Starship megarocket back to the launch pad and catching it using mechanical arms, a move that marks a significant engineering triumph.
The uncrewed Starship rocket, attached to its “Super Heavy” booster, lifted off from SpaceX’s facility in southern Texas at 7:25 am (1225 GMT) under clear skies. Shortly after launch, the booster made a controlled return to the launch pad, where a pair of massive mechanical arms, nicknamed “Mechazilla” by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, gently caught the descending booster and brought it to a stop.
This test flight marks the fifth for Starship, and the second major objective was also met when the upper stage successfully splashed down in the Indian Ocean, as planned. Musk celebrated the accomplishment on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “Ship landed precisely on target!”
The booster’s return and capture marks a significant advancement in SpaceX’s efforts to achieve rapid reusability of its rockets. A spokesperson for the company hailed the moment as “a day for the engineering history books.”
The mission’s success follows years of preparation and months of rigorous testing aimed at catching the booster. SpaceX engineers devoted tens of thousands of hours to perfecting the technology needed for the feat, ensuring that “thousands” of criteria were met before attempting the return. Had conditions not been met, the booster would have been redirected to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico, as in previous tests.
This latest achievement adds to SpaceX’s growing list of successes, with the company having quickly emerged as the leader in orbital launches since its founding in 2002. NASA also congratulated SpaceX on the test, as the space agency anticipates using a modified version of Starship as a lander for its upcoming crewed Artemis missions to the Moon.
Starship, the centerpiece of Musk’s vision to make humanity a multiplanetary species, stands 397 feet (121 meters) tall when fully stacked and produces 16.7 million pounds of thrust, making it the most powerful rocket ever built.
Despite its technical achievements, SpaceX has been mired in controversy, with Musk’s political alignment and public disputes with the Federal Aviation Administration drawing attention. Nevertheless, SpaceX continues to push the boundaries of space exploration with its rapid development and iterative testing philosophy. As the company moves closer to its goal of enabling human missions to Mars, Sunday’s success demonstrates its commitment to revolutionizing space travel
