Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship spacecraft completed its first return from an orbital flight by being caught by special mechanical arms on the launch tower. The historic maneuver took place after a 22-hour test flight. BBC reports, UNN writes.
Details
According to the publication, the spacecraft returned to the launch site, where it was caught by huge mechanical "arms" installed on a special tower.
The catch took place at 4:16 p.m. Eastern Time in the United States. This technology makes it possible to return spacecraft without a traditional landing on support legs and is an important element of Starship’s reusability concept.
At the same time, during this test launch, SpaceX abandoned its attempt to catch the Super Heavy rocket’s lower stage. Instead, the mission’s main achievement was the return of the spacecraft itself after an extended stay in orbit.
Starship is being developed as a fully reusable space system for transporting cargo and people. In the future, SpaceX plans to use it for flights to the Moon and Mars.
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