SpaceX successfully executes first chopstick catch of Starship
SpaceX achieved a major milestone during its Starship Flight 15 mission by successfully catching the Starship spacecraft using the mechanical "chopstick" arms of its "Mechazilla" launch and catch tower for the first time. While SpaceX had previously demonstrated the ability to catch returning rocket boosters with the tower arms, this flight marked the first time the maneuver was successfully executed on the upper-stage Starship vehicle itself. At approximately 4:20 PM ET, the spacecraft descended through the clouds, executed a vertical flip, and settled cleanly between the awaiting arms of the tower at Starbase in Texas.
The mission was not an unqualified success, however, as SpaceX was unable to recover the entire launch vehicle. A planned recovery of Flight 15's booster had to be aborted, resulting in the booster detonating over the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX is currently investigating the underlying cause of the booster's aborted landing. Despite that loss, capturing the upper stage marks a critical advance for the program's reusability goals. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk had previously remarked during the company's third-quarter earnings call that success on these early flights was not guaranteed, but SpaceX's previous track record of catching boosters suggests the booster failure is a surmountable challenge.
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