SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster successfully returned to the platform on Sunday morning after lifting off to be caught by the launch tower’s mechanical arms in an incredible feat. The milestone occurred during the fifth flight of the company’s Starship, and is a major step toward the rocket’s planned reusability. The starship launched from SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas Starbase at approximately 8:25 a.m. ET.
Rocket landings are nothing new for SpaceX, which has been reusing the Falcon 9 for several years now, but the company took a completely different approach to getting the Super Heavy back. While the Falcon 9 would normally land on a drone ship in the ocean, the Super Heavy returned to the launch site and had to go through the narrow opening between the elongated “rods” of the launch towers. The move risked destroying the turret if the Super Heavy didn’t take it out properly. Nevertheless, live footage from the flight test shows the booster neatly parking itself in the tower to the raucous cheers of everyone watching from the viewing room.
The Starship, meanwhile, continued its flight for about an hour after detaching from the booster and splashed into the Indian Ocean at 9:30 a.m. as scheduled. The entire Starship transport system, consisting of the Super Heavy first stage and the Starship second stage, is designed for reuse.
