SpaceX Achieves Historic Booster Catch During Starship Test

Company successfully catches its Super Heavy booster using a pair of metal ‘chopsticks,’ marking the first time such a maneuver has been completed.

Monday, October 14, 2024 at 03:12 PM ET

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SpaceX caught its Super Heavy booster in midair using a pair of metal ‘chopstick’ arms, the first time such a maneuver has been successfully completed. [Courtesy: SpaceX]

Key Takeaways:

SpaceX's Starship completed its fifth suborbital test flight, achieving a historic milestone by successfully catching the Super Heavy booster mid-air with "Mechazilla" for the first time, validating a key aspect of its full reusability design.
This success is crucial for Starship's ambitious long-term goals of rapid reusability, essential for future crewed and cargo missions to the Moon (under NASA's Artemis III contract) and Mars, which will require hundreds of launches.
Despite engineering triumphs, SpaceX continues to face regulatory challenges and scrutiny from the FAA, which has caused delays in launch licensing for modified mission profiles and led to public grievances from the company regarding the pace of approvals.
Upcoming development focuses on validating orbital flight and demonstrating in-orbit propellant transfer, a critical step for lunar missions like Artemis III, which may require numerous Starship flights to establish an orbital fuel depot.

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SpaceX’s Starship program—responsible for developing the largest and most powerful rocket ever flown—continues to make history.

On Sunday, Starship and the Super Heavy booster lifted off around 8:25 a.m. EDT from SpaceX’s Starbase launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas, on the rocket’s fifth suborbital test flight. But rather than splash down in the Gulf of Mexico, as it did on the previous flight, Super Heavy was caught in midair by a pair of metal “chopstick” arms the company refers to as “Mechazilla.”

Jack Daleo

Jack is a staff writer covering advanced air mobility, including everything from drones to unmanned aircraft systems to space travel—and a whole lot more. He spent close to two years reporting on drone delivery for FreightWaves, covering the biggest news and developments in the space and connecting with industry executives and experts. Jack is also a basketball aficionado, a frequent traveler and a lover of all things logistics.