SpaceX has for the first time caught the upper stage of its Starship rocket on return from orbit, using the mechanical arms on its launch tower at Starbase, Texas, CNBC reports. Flight 15 was the first attempt to catch both parts of the vehicle. On Friday the booster could not be recovered and was diverted to the Gulf of Mexico, where it exploded before reaching the water.
The ship continued into orbit, deployed 26 Starlink v3 satellites and circled the Earth 14 times before landing on the tower on Saturday. Elon Musk posted a video of himself inspecting it. A fully reusable Starship is central to SpaceX's plans to expand Starlink, land NASA astronauts on the Moon and eventually reach Mars. Flight restrictions imposed on Friday because of debris risk have since been lifted.
Source: CNBC