SpaceX rocket booster makes successful landing after test launch – as it is caught by ‘chopsticks’
A SpaceX booster rocket has returned to earth and been caught by giant robotic arms – following a successful launch of the company’s Starship spacecraft.
It was the first attempt to bring the rocket’s 232-foot (71 metre) Super Heavy booster back to the launch tower by re-igniting three of its 33 Raptor engines to slow its speedy descent.
After separating from the Starship at a height of 46 miles (74km), it returned to Boca Chica in Texas, seven minutes after launch, where it was grabbed and clamped in place using what are described as “chopsticks”.
Arguably, they look more like metal arms, or giant pincers.
The catching of the booster was not guaranteed to go ahead. Both it and the launch tower had to be in good, stable conditions, SpaceX said.
But it settled into position in what appeared to be a calm, controlled manner.
The Super Heavy on its way back down. Pic: AP
The booster rocket clamped back in place by the ‘chopsticks’. Pic: SpaceX
SpaceX tweeted that “Mechazilla” had caught the “Super Heavy booster!”
“Are you kidding me?” SpaceX’s Dan Huot said close to the launch site. “I am shaking right now.”
“This is a day for the engineering history books,” added SpaceX’s Kate Tice.
SpaceX owner Elon Musk said on X, which he also owns: “The tower has caught the rocket!!”
Space journalist Kate Arkless Gray said the booster was still travelling at a supersonic speed less than a minute before landing.
“The deceleration involved in that is wild,” she told Sky News.
She added: “SpaceX have really, really innovated. Even just a few years ago, the idea of bringing a booster back to land or a barge in the sea – no one was doing that.”
It’s the Starship’s fifth test flight. Pic: AP
The Starship, meanwhile, landed in the Indian Ocean, west of Australia, following its fifth test flight from a launch pad on the border with Mexico.
“Splashdown confirmed!”, SpaceX said on social media.
Starship and Super Heavy are designed to carry crew and cargo to the moon and beyond – and be reusable.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved the launch only yesterday, weeks earlier than expected.
Previously, the FAA said a decision on Starship 5 was not expected until late November.
But it said Elon Musk’s company had “met all safety, environmental and other licensing requirements for the suborbital test flight”.
It has also approved the Starship 6 mission profile.
The Starship lifted off from Boca Chica in Texas. Pic: AP
Musk has heavily criticised the FAA – partly over the delay in approving the licence for Starship 5, which SpaceX said was ready in August.
SpaceX describes Starship as the world’s “most powerful launch vehicle ever developed”, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes.
First unveiled in 2017, it has exploded several times in various stages of testing.
In June, it successfully completed a full flight for the first time.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has been linked to a second group chat about sensitive military operations, which he reportedly shared with his wife, brother and personal lawyer.
The messages sent via the Signal messaging app are again understood to have contained details of an attack on Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis in March.
The second chat group, initially reported by The New York Times, included about a dozen people. It revealed details of the schedule of the airstrikes, according to the Reuters news agency.
Two sources with knowledge of the matter told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News there were 13 people in the second chat group, and Mr Hegseth divulged the information despite an aide warning him about using an unsecure communications system.
Mr Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, has attended sensitive meetings with foreign military counterparts, while his brother was hired at the Pentagon as a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser.
Military details from the first chat group were revealed by a journalist from The Atlantic magazine who was accidentally added to the Signal app by national security adviser Mike Waltz.
Mr Hegseth then shared sensitive information with cabinet officials about last month’s airstrike on targets in Yemen, which was later leaked.
Read more from Sky News:
What is Signal?
Who is Pete Hegseth?
Mike Waltz (left) and Pete Hegseth (right) have used Signal to discuss sensitive government matters. Pic: AP
‘A non-story,’ says White House
But the White House has consistently defended Mr Hegseth.
Donald Trump dismissed the original leak as “something that can happen”.
Responding to the latest chat group, White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said: “No matter how many times the legacy media tries to resurrect the same non-story, they can’t change the fact that no classified information was shared.
“Recently-fired ‘leakers’ are continuing to misrepresent the truth to soothe their shattered egos and undermine the President’s agenda, but the administration will continue to hold them accountable.”
The “leakers” referred to in the White House statement are four senior officials who were ousted from the Pentagon last week as part of an internal leak investigation.
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Leaked war plans: ‘Fairly serious’
‘Hegseth put lives at risk’
The New York Times reported that the second chat – named “Defence | Team Huddle” – was created on Mr Hegseth’s private phone.
It detailed the same warplane launch times as the first chat.
Several former and current officials have said sharing those operational details before a strike would have certainly been classified, and their release could have put pilots in danger.
Democratic politicians have repeatedly called for Mr Hegseth to step down.
“We keep learning how Pete Hegseth put lives at risk,” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said in a post on X.
“But [Donald] Trump is still too weak to fire him. Pete Hegseth must be fired.”
The latest claims about Mr Hegseth emerged as Yemen’s Houthi rebels reported another wave of US airstrikes on Sunday, including on the capital Sanaa.
The Houthis said at least 12 people had been killed, with 30 more injured.
The US says its bombing campaign is in response to Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes.
DHL Express is suspending some shipments to the US as Donald Trump’s new tariff regime takes effect.
From 21 April, shipments worth more than $800 (£603) to US consumers from “any origin” will be temporarily suspended.
New rules that came into effect at the start of April made such shipments subject to increased customs checks.
“This change has caused a surge in formal customs clearances, which we are handling around the clock,” said the parcel delivery service.
Shipments going from business to business worth more than $800 aren’t affected by the suspension, but DHL warned they may also face delays.
Shipments under $800 to either businesses or consumers are not impacted, but one British cycle manufacturer suggested its US customers may need to split orders over $800 into “smaller shipments” to avoid the red tape.
Read more:
The art of doing a deal with Trump
Is there method to Trump’s madness?
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Trump: Tariffs are making US ‘rich’
Trump targeting ‘deceptive’ practices
From May, shipments from China and Hong Kong that are worth less than $800 “will be subject to all applicable duties”, according to the White House.
“President Trump is targeting deceptive shipping practices by Chinese-based shippers, many of whom hide illicit substances, including synthetic opioids, in low-value packages,” it said in a statement.
Until now, deliveries worth less than $800 didn’t incur any duties, which allowed low-cost companies Chinese like Shein and Temu to make inroads in the US.
Both have warned their prices will now rise because of the rule changes, starting on 25 April.
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