{"id":790236,"date":"2024-10-13T11:10:53","date_gmt":"2024-10-13T16:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=790236"},"modified":"2024-10-13T11:10:53","modified_gmt":"2024-10-13T16:10:53","slug":"spacex-rocket-booster-caught-on-first-attempt-during-flight-test-npr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=790236","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX rocket booster ‘caught’ on first attempt during flight test : NPR"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n This image provided by SpaceX shows SpaceX’s mega Starship rocket upon its return during a test flight, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, over Boca Chica, Texas.
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SpaceX on Sunday successfully \u201ccaught\u201d its \u201cSuper Heavy\u201d booster on its first attempt during a flight test, a first for the company and its most powerful spacecraft.<\/p>\n

Starship lifted off from its launch tower into clear morning skies from the Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, at 7:25 a.m. CT with all 33 of its Raptor engines firing flawlessly.<\/p>\n

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Seven minutes into the flight test and after separating from the Starship\u2019s vehicle, the rocket booster was successfully caught for the first time ever in \u201cMechazilla,\u201d a mechanism with chopstick-like arms on a tower on the launch pad. SpaceX staff cheered as the booster descended onto Mechazilla with 13 engines burning before ultimately being caught with three engines burning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tower has caught the rocket!!,\u201d SpaceX Founder Elon Musk posted on X with a clip of the moment the booster was caught.<\/p>\n