SpaceX Just Successfully Caught Its Starship Booster on Its Launchpad

Starship made a successful fifth flight test yesterday on its quest to head to the moon and eventually to Mars. The world’s largest rocket, a 400-foot-tall behemoth, took off successfully at 8:25 a.m. Eastern time from SpaceX‘s headquarters near Brownsville, Texas. The Starship’s upper-stage vehicle separated from the 233-foot heavy booster, which propels the monster rocket, and headed into space.

This time, however, the booster returned to Starbase, where it was successfully caught by two giant chopstick-like arms, or Mechazilla, as SpaceX calls the structure. This technical feat is proof, according to SpaceX, that Starship can be reused—with fast turnaround times—more like a jetliner than the throwaway rockets that have been used by past generations.

“Thousands of distinct vehicle and pad criteria had to be met prior to the catch attempt, and thanks to the tireless work of SpaceX engineers, we succeeded with catch on our first attempt,” said a release on SpaceX.com. The booster’s re-entry involved igniting several of its 33 booster engines to guide it back to the launch site.

“As we prepare to go back to the Moon under Artemis, continued testing will prepare us for the bold missions that lie ahead—including to the South Pole region of the moon and then on to Mars,” said NASA administrator Bill Nelson on X, following the successful completion of the flight. The space agency is paying SpaceX $4 billion to take astronauts to the moon in two upcoming Artemis missions. The first is scheduled for September 2026.

But the giant rocket will also be used to shuttle satellites into orbit and cargo to the ISS along with the structures to build future private space stations. It has the capacity to carry 100 metric tons.

Despite yesterday’s success, the booster re-entry include drawbacks such as sonic booms. “My house shook on liftoff and re-entry, all the way in Harlingen, 40 miles away,” Justin LeClaire, a wildlife biologist with the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program, which monitors the SpaceX launches, told The New York Times. “It genuinely felt like a minor earthquake, had I not known a rocket was launching.”

The hour-long flight of the upper stage, which SpaceX simply calls “Ship,” was also successful. It completed the “hot-staging” separation from the booster by igniting six Raptor engines and ascending into space.

“It coasted along its planned trajectory to the other side of the planet before executing a controlled reentry, passing through the phases of peak heating and maximum aerodynamic pressure, before executing a flip, landing burn, and splashdown at its target area in the Indian Ocean,” said SpaceX.

“That was amazing,” Kate Tice, SpaceX manager of Quality Systems Engineering, said during live commentary during the flight. “We were not intending to recover any of Starship, so that was the best ending that we could have hoped for.”