Raumfahrt: SpaceX fängt Riesen-Rakete Starship erstmals wieder auf

New York - The US space company SpaceX has successfully caught the upper stage of its colossal Starship rocket for the first time after an earthbound test flight. Approximately 20 hours post-launch, the Starship returned safely to the Starbase launch site in Texas and was retrieved by grappling arms on the launch tower. This marked SpaceX's inaugural attempt at such a capture attempt.

Prior to this, the company faced a setback during the 15th test flight, where the lower rocket stage, intended to be caught by the same grappling arms, failed to do so. The booster, named Super Heavy, returned to Earth shortly after liftoff but crashed back into the ocean and exploded in flames. SpaceX initially offered no information on the potential cause of the failure.

In three previous test launches, capturing the lower rocket stage had been successful. The upper rocket stage, known as Starship, swung into an Earth orbit shortly after separating from the lower rocket stage and circled the Earth multiple times.