SpaceX celebrated a massive win on Sunday as its new attempt at catching and reusing rocket boosters was successful, potentially marking a major step forward in space travel and the cost of leaving Earth.
The space company utilized its Mechazilla, a tower that uses chopstick-like arms, to catch a descending 232-foot booster after a seven-minute flight.
A video of the momentous event was shared by SpaceX on social media, earning it praise from its competitors and others.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shared in a post to his social media site X that the ability to catch and reuse rockets was a massive step forward in space exploration.
“Big step towards making life multiplanetary was made today,” Musk said.
The company’s COO, Gwynne Shotwell, said she didn’t “know what to say!” after watching her company’s achievement.
SpaceX refers to the booster as “the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever deployed,” named Starship. The booster is one of two parts of Starship, the other being the Starship spacecraft.
On Sunday, the spacecraft continued its flight after separating from the booster before landing in the Indian Ocean. It was the spacecraft’s fifth test flight and its most successful so far.
As for the achievement of catching the booster, SpaceX has been working for some time to find a way to reuse booster rockets, which can cost millions of dollars and is one part of why space travel is so expensive. For years, SpaceX has recovered the much smaller first-stage boosters of its Falcon 9 rockets. Though those land on floating ocean platforms or on concrete slabs miles from where they are launched.
The company praised the achievement, which was completed on its first attempt, in a post to X on Sunday.
“Thousands of distinct vehicle and pad criteria had to be met prior to catching the Super Heavy booster,” the company said. “Thanks to the tireless work of SpaceX engineers, we succeeded with catch on our first attempt.”
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson also touched on the achievement in a post on X.
“As we prepare to go back to the Moon under #Artemis, continued testing will prepare us for the bold missions that lie ahead — including to the South Pole region of the Moon and then on to Mars,” Nelson said.