SpaceX catches Starship itself with tower 'chopsticks' for the first time
On Starship Flight 15, US space company SpaceX caught the Starship vehicle itself with its "Mechazilla" launch and catch tower for the first time. The attempt to land the booster failed, and it detonated over the Gulf of Mexico.
SpaceX, the US space company, has for the first time successfully caught the Starship vehicle itself with its "Mechazilla" launch and catch tower during Starship Flight 15. The so-called chopstick maneuver, in which the tower's arms grab the craft, had previously worked only with the company's boosters, not with the vehicle. The result is a milestone for the Starship programme.
What happened during the flight
According to The Verge, Starship dropped through the clouds, flipped to a vertical position and settled between the tower's waiting arms at around 4:20 PM ET.
The flight was not a complete success, however. SpaceX aborted the planned catch of the booster, which broke off its landing and detonated over the Gulf of Mexico. Because the whole launch vehicle was not recovered, the outcome falls short of a full success. The company is still working to determine why the booster aborted its landing.
Earlier statements
During the company's third-quarter earnings call, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said success is not guaranteed on these first flights, but that it is more likely than not that the catch succeeds on the next flight.
Because SpaceX has already caught boosters on earlier launches, there is reason to believe that the booster failure this time is not an insurmountable obstacle for the programme.
