Brownsville, Texas – SpaceX achieved a significant milestone in rocket recovery technology on Sunday during the latest test flight of its colossal Starship rocket, successfully catching the returning booster with a unique system of mechanical arms at the launch pad.
The towering 121-meter Starship launched at sunrise from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border, marking a dramatic moment in the company’s ongoing mission to develop reusable space travel technology. Unlike previous flights that ended in destruction shortly after liftoff or during splashdowns in the Gulf of Mexico, this test flight took a step further. The previous flight in June was considered the most successful to date, completing its mission without any explosions.
This time, however, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk increased the stakes. In a groundbreaking maneuver, the company brought the first-stage booster back to land at the launch pad just seven minutes after liftoff. The launch tower featured massive metal arms, colloquially referred to as “chopsticks,” designed to catch the descending 71-meter booster.
“The tower has caught the rocket!!” Musk declared on social media platform X, eliciting cheers from SpaceX employees who watched as the booster was gradually lowered into the launch tower’s grasp. “Even in this day and age, what we just saw is magic,” exclaimed SpaceX’s Dan Huot from near the launch site. Kate Tice, another SpaceX engineer, added, “Folks, this is a day for the engineering history books.”
The success of this recovery hinged on real-time decisions made by the flight director, who had manual control over the landing. SpaceX confirmed that both the booster and launch tower needed to be stable for the catch attempt; otherwise, the booster would have splashed down into the Gulf of Mexico like previous attempts. Fortunately, conditions were deemed favorable for the historic maneuver.
Once the booster was recovered, the retro-styled stainless steel spacecraft atop it continued its trajectory around the globe, targeting a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The entire flight was expected to last just over an hour.
Following a less-than-ideal outcome in June, which saw debris detach from the rocket, SpaceX had upgraded its software and improved the heat shield’s thermal tiles for this test. While SpaceX has successfully recovered the first-stage boosters of its smaller Falcon 9 rockets over the past nine years—landing them on floating ocean platforms or concrete slabs—the landing of the Starship booster directly on the launch pad represents a significant advancement.
Musk aims to replicate the efficiency gained from recovering Falcon boosters with the Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, featuring 33 methane-fueled engines on the booster alone. NASA has ordered two Starships for moon landings later this decade, and SpaceX plans to utilize Starship for missions to the moon and, eventually, Mars.
