Elon Musk's SpaceX Makes History With First-Ever 'Catch' Of Super Heavy Booster By Launch Tower's Mechanical Arms

In a groundbreaking achievement, Elon Musk's SpaceX successfully "caught" the first-stage booster of its Starship rocket on Sunday (13 October) as it returned to the launch pad after a test flight, marking a world-first in the company's pursuit of rapid reusability.

The super heavy booster, which launched attached to the Starship rocket, completed its flight and returned in a controlled manner to the launchpad in Texas.

It made a controlled descent to the launch pad where the launch tower's large mechanical "chopsticks" extended from the launch tower to halt the descending booster.

"Folks, this is a day for the engineering history books," a SpaceX spokesperson said in a voiceover on the company's livestream, after as the booster was caught by the tower's mechanical arms.

"The tower has caught the rocket!!" SpaceX founder Musk posted on X.

The launch took place at 7:25 am (1225 GMT) under clear skies.

As the booster returned to the launch site, the upper stage of the Starship reached the orbit and later splashed down in a controlled manner in the Indian Ocean within the hour.

In June, SpaceX completed its first successful splashdown with Starship, the prototype spacecraft that Elon Musk envisions will eventually transport humans to Mars.

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