The successful capture of the returning Super Heavy rocket with giant mechanical arms is a key element in SpaceX’s goal of „rapid reusability“
In one of the most dramatic, high-risk space flights to date, SpaceX launched a gargantuan Super Heavy-Starship rocket on an unpiloted test flight Sunday and then used giant „mechazilla“ mechanical arms on the pad gantry to grab the descending first stage out of the sky as the upper stage continued to space.
The spectacular capture, using pincer-like arms more familiarly known as chopsticks, represented a new milestone in SpaceX’s drive to develop fully reusable, quickly re-launchable rockets. It is a technological tour de force unmatched in the history of earlier space programs relying on expendable, throw-away rockets.
The 397-foot-tall rocket blasted off from SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas, flight facility on the Texas Gulf Coast at 8:25 a.m. EDT, putting on a spectacular sunrise show as the booster’s 33 methane-burning Raptor engines ignited with a ground-shaking roar and a torrent of flaming exhaust.
Three minutes and 40 seconds after liftoff, the Super Heavy booster fell away, flipped around and restarted 13 Raptors to reverse course and head back toward the Texas coast as the Starship upper stage continued the climb to space on the power of its six Raptor engines.
The booster’s flight computer was programmed to direct the stage to a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico if any problems developed on the rocket or the launch pad capture mechanism.
But no such problems were detected and the Super Heavy continued toward its launch pad, descending and then slowing to a near hover between the two mechanical arms, which then moved in to grab the rocket as its engines shut down. SpaceX employees at the company’s headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., burst into cheers and applause.
The remarkable capture, a key element in SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s drive to achieve „rapid reusability“, came as the Starship upper stage was still heading to space and splashdown in the Indian Ocean, simulating a touchdown on shore or, eventually, on the moon or Mars.
