SpaceX ‘catches’ giant Starship rocket booster in fifth flight test

SpaceX launches its enormous rocket on its boldest test flight yet, catching the returning booster back at the pad with mechanical arms.

SpaceX has launched its fifth Starship test flight from Texas and returned the rocket’s towering first-stage booster back to land for the first time, achieving a novel recovery method involving large metal arms.

The rocket’s Super Heavy first-stage booster lifted off at 7:25 am (12:25 GMT) on Sunday from SpaceX’s launch facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, sending the second-stage Starship rocket on a path in space bound for the Indian Ocean west of Australia, where it will attempt atmospheric reentry followed by a water landing.

The Super Heavy booster, after separating from the Starship booster some 74km (46 miles) in altitude, returned to the same area from which it was launched to make its landing attempt, aided by two robotic arms attached to the launch tower.

“The tower has caught the rocket!!” SpaceX founder Elon Musk posted on X.

Towering almost 121 metres (400 feet), the empty Starship arched over the Gulf of Mexico like the four Starships before it that ended up being destroyed, either soon after liftoff or while ditching into the sea. The last one in June was the most successful yet, completing its flight without exploding.