After separating from the Starship at a height of 46 miles (74km), it returned to Boca Chica in Texas, seven minutes after launch, where it was grabbed and clamped in place using what are described as “chopsticks”.<\/p>\n
The catching of the booster was not guaranteed to go ahead. Both it and the launch tower had to be in good, stable conditions, SpaceX said.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
But it settled into position in what appeared to be a calm, controlled manner.<\/p>\n
SpaceX tweeted that “Mechazilla” had caught the “Super Heavy booster!”<\/p>\n
“Are you kidding me?” SpaceX’s Dan Huot said close to the launch site. “I am shaking right now.”<\/p>\n
“This is a day for the engineering history books,” added SpaceX’s Kate Tice.<\/p>\n
SpaceX owner Elon Musk said on X, which he also owns: “The tower has caught the rocket!!”<\/p>\n
Space journalist Kate Arkless Gray said the booster was still travelling at a supersonic speed less than a minute before landing.<\/p>\n
“The deceleration involved in that is wild,” she told Sky News.<\/p>\n
She added: “SpaceX have really, really innovated. Even just a few years ago, the idea of bringing a booster back to land or a barge in the sea – no one was doing that.”<\/p>\n
The Starship, meanwhile, landed in the Indian Ocean, west of Australia, following its fifth test flight from a launch pad on the border with Mexico.<\/p>\n
“Splashdown confirmed!”, SpaceX said on social media.<\/p>\n
Starship and Super Heavy are designed to carry crew and cargo to the moon and beyond – and be reusable.<\/p>\n
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved the launch only yesterday, weeks earlier than expected.<\/p>\n
Previously, the FAA said a decision on Starship 5 was not expected until late November.<\/p>\n
But it said Elon Musk’s company had “met all safety, environmental and other licensing requirements for the suborbital test flight”.<\/p>\n
It has also approved the Starship 6 mission profile.<\/p>\n
Musk has heavily criticised the FAA – partly over the delay in approving the licence for Starship 5, which SpaceX said was ready in August.<\/p>\n
SpaceX describes Starship as the world’s “most powerful launch vehicle ever developed”, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes.<\/p>\n
First unveiled in 2017, it has exploded several times in various stages of testing.<\/p>\n
In June, it successfully completed a full flight for the first time.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This post appeared first on sky.com<\/div>\n
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