SpaceX’s superheavy booster accomplished an incredible feat Sunday morning, safely returning to its pad after liftoff and being captured by the launch tower’s mechanical arm. This milestone was achieved during the company’s Starship’s fifth flight and represents a major step in the rocket’s planned reusability. Starship lifted off from SpaceX’s Boca Chica Space Station in Texas at approximately 8:25 a.m. ET.
Landing rockets is nothing new for SpaceX, which has been reusing its flagship Falcon 9 aircraft for several years, but the company took a completely different approach to reclaiming the Super Heavy. The Falcon 9 normally lands on a drone ship at sea, but the Super Heavy had to return to the launch site and enter a narrow opening between the launch tower’s extended “chopsticks.” This move risked destroying the tower if the Super Heavy didn’t execute it correctly. However, live footage from the flight test showed the booster parked neatly in the tower, and everyone watching from the observation deck erupted in cheers.
Meanwhile, Starship continued flying for about an hour after separating from its booster, landing in the Indian Ocean as scheduled at around 9:30 a.m. ET. The entire Starship transportation system, consisting of the Super Heavy first stage and the Starship second stage, is designed to be reusable.
