SpaceX booster rocket successfully 'captured' on first attempt during flight test

SpaceX successfully “captured” its “Super Heavy” booster on Sunday on its first attempt during a flight test, a first for the company and its most powerful spacecraft.

Starship lifted off from its launch tower into the clear morning sky at the Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, at 7:25 a.m. CT, with all 33 Raptor engines running smoothly.

Seven minutes into the flight test and after separating from the Starship vehicle, the rocket booster was successfully captured for the first time in the “Mechazilla,” a mechanism with chopstick-like arms in a tower on the launch pad. The SpaceX team cheered as the booster descended on Mechazilla with 13 engines on fire before finally being caught with three engines on fire.

“The tower caught the rocket!!”, SpaceX founder Elon Musk posted on X with a clip of the moment the booster was captured.

The Starship, which had no crew, sailed in space for nearly 45 minutes before crashing into the Indian Ocean at 9:30 a.m. CT, one hour and five minutes after the flight test began. A flash from the spacecraft as it touched down in the ocean was seen on SpaceX’s live broadcast of the vehicle’s reentry.

“The ship landed precisely on target! Second of two goals achieved,” Musk said in another post on X with a clip of Starship landing in the ocean.

The flight’s success is a significant step for the company as it aims to one day use Starship to transport astronauts and supplies to Earth’s orbit, as well as to the Moon and planets like Mars. The largest rocket ever built, Starship is 397 feet tall, including the rocket booster, which SpaceX says is “fully reusable.”

Significant improvements have been made to the spacecraft since its first launch in April 2023, when the rocket exploded shortly after takeoff. Starship’s heat shield has been reworked, SpaceX says: Its thermal protection system was replaced with newer plates and included additional shields between the flaps and a backup layer.

SpaceX was not trying to recover the spacecraft and was trying to demonstrate that it could bring Starship to its target under control.

Sunday’s launch also comes amid a worry scenario about the environmental impact flight tests are taking place in the areas surrounding the launch pad.

NPR’s Geoff Brumfiel contributed to this report.