SpaceX Starship makes history by landing back in giant tower arms

Midair Catch

SpaceX caught its Starship mega rocket in midair using giant mechanical arms on Saturday in Texas. The stainless steel spacecraft returned after a 22-hour flight and lowered itself upright until two metal arms on the launch tower secured it.

Flight Details

The giant 407-foot rocket lifted off from Starbase near the U.S.-Mexican border on Friday. The upper-stage spacecraft soared into orbit 165 miles up and released 26 Starlink satellites while completing 14 laps around Earth. While the main ship succeeded, the first-stage booster exploded in the Gulf of Mexico after its engines stopped firing too soon on the way down.

Future Plans

NASA is paying billions of dollars for Starship to land Artemis astronauts on the moon later this decade and help build a permanent lunar base. SpaceX also plans to launch Starships from Florida's Kennedy Space Center within the next few months.

Context

Reusable rockets help lower the high cost of space travel by letting companies fly the same hardware multiple times instead of building new rockets for every trip. Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, designed by Elon Musk's company for deep space missions to the moon and Mars.