Starbase, Texas - Elon Musk’s SpaceX on Saturday carried out the first-ever recovery of a spaceship, pulling off a successful “catch” of its Starship vessel as it returned to its launch site after a day in orbit.The spaceship emerged from a cloudy sky after withstanding the extreme heat of re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, and descended slowly over Starbase before slipping smoothly between mechanical “chopstick arms” above Launch Pad 2.The feat marked a milestone in the space industry’s decadeslong pursuit of fully reusable rocket systems — a goal that can drastically reduce mission costs and make more frequent launches possible.
SpaceX pulls off first-ever spaceship ‘catch’
The feat marked a milestone in the space industry's decadeslong pursuit of fully reusable rocket systems.
In brief
Starbase, Texas - Elon Musk’s SpaceX on Saturday carried out the first-ever recovery of a spaceship, pulling off a successful “catch” of its Starship vessel as it returned to its launch site after a day in orbit.The spaceship emerged from a cloudy sky after withstanding the extreme heat of re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, and descended slowly over Starbase before slipping smoothly between mechanical “chopstick arms” above Launch Pad 2.The feat marked a milestone in the space industry’s decadeslong pursuit of fully reusable rocket systems — a goal that can drastically reduce mission costs and make more frequent launches possible.
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