Starship Flight 5 — the first chopstick catch
On 13 October 2024 the 70-metre booster from Starship Flight 5 flew back to its launch tower and was caught by robotic arms, an important step toward rockets that fly again and again like aircraft.
The story
On the morning of 13 October 2024, Starship Flight 5 lifted off in Texas. The lower stage, called the Super Heavy booster, pushed the ship upward, separated, and was back at the launch site about seven minutes after lift-off. The booster has no landing legs. Instead, two robotic arms on the launch tower, nicknamed ‘Mechazilla’, caught the falling booster in mid-air. It was the first attempt, and it worked.
The booster is about 70 metres tall, taller than a 20-storey building, and weighs hundreds of tonnes even when empty. On the way back it relit its engines to slow from high speed to almost nothing, while sliding sideways toward the tower. Near the top of the booster are two small projecting pins. The moment they settled onto the arms, the engines shut down and the booster came to rest.
The point of the catch is not the spectacle but fast reuse. Without landing legs the booster is lighter, so it can carry more. And because the catch happens right at the launch tower, there is no need to pull the rocket from the sea and bring it back by ship. SpaceX wants rockets that can fly again quickly, much as aircraft do.
On the same flight the upper stage went most of the way around the Earth and came down right on target in the Indian Ocean. A second catch followed on Flight 7 in January 2025, and that same booster was launched again on Flight 9 in May 2025. The size-ladder view shows the 70-metre booster standing next to other rockets.
Mission goals
Whether reusing rockets saves money depends on how quickly they can fly again. SpaceX's Falcon 9 boosters land on a ship at sea, are carried back to port and are inspected before flying again, a process that usually takes weeks. Catching the booster right at the tower could cut that time sharply, and Starship's plans for cheaper launches depend on that speed.
The catch is also a feat of precise landing. The booster does not come down on a wide landing pad; it has to put its pins exactly onto arms held up in the air. The same kind of precise guidance is needed to set a spacecraft down at a chosen spot on the Moon or Mars. The Starship lunar lander (HLS) chosen for NASA's Artemis programme relies on guidance from the same family.
Mission chronology and background
The confidence to try a catch came from Flight 4 in June 2024. On that flight the booster came down exactly on a target point in the Gulf of Mexico. If it could hit an imaginary point over the sea, the thinking went, it could also arrive beside the tower. The licence for Flight 5 came from the US Federal Aviation Administration the day before launch.
The decision to catch is made automatically. If sensors on the booster or the tower go outside safe limits at the last moment, the booster heads for the sea instead of the tower. That is what happened on Flight 6 in November 2024: a problem on the tower side triggered the switch, and the booster splashed down. This safety check matters, because a failed catch could destroy the whole tower.
Catching the upper stage, the ship, is harder. The ship comes back into the atmosphere at close to orbital speed, so its heat-shield tiles must survive intense heat, and its path back to the launch site must be worked out precisely. SpaceX plans to catch ships as well, but has not yet tried it.
Other milestones of this mission
Where to see it — sky and simulator
Starship launches and catches happen at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, and SpaceX streams them live online. The booster returns to the tower about seven minutes after lift-off, so a single broadcast shows everything from launch to catch. The ship then travels most of the way around the Earth for about an hour before splashing down in the Indian Ocean, and that too is shown on the same broadcast.
Most Starship flights do not stay in orbit, so Starship is not in the sky view's satellite list. Instead, the size-ladder view places the Super Heavy booster (about 70 m) and the full Starship (about 120 m) beside the Saturn V, SLS and Falcon 9 so you can compare them.
FAQ
Why doesn't the booster have landing legs?
Without legs the booster is lighter and can carry more, and because it is caught at the launch tower it can be made ready to fly again sooner.
Did it work the first time?
Yes. The first attempt, on Flight 5 on 13 October 2024, succeeded.
What happens if a catch looks risky?
If the sensors report a problem, the booster automatically diverts to the sea. That is what happened on Flight 6 in November 2024.
Has a caught booster really flown again?
Yes. The booster caught on Flight 7 in January 2025 flew again on Flight 9 in May 2025.
Related
- Starship test flights — the story so far
- Starship Flight 14
- Artemis III — docking test in Earth orbit
- The Moon — object index
- Earth — object index
Times and figures are approximate — verify with official sources when planning travel. Simulation uses J2000 mean elements.