SpaceX’s Starship has begun its fifth test flight as Elon Musk pushes ahead with his quest to one day take astronauts to the moon — maybe even Mars.
During this flight, the SpaceX team tried something that had never been done before.
Unlike previous flights, when the launch vehicle plunged into the Indian Ocean, it slowed and descended smoothly back to the launch pad for a pair of giant mechanical arms to catch it – in what is known as a “stick manoeuvre”.
Watch the moment SpaceX’s control room erupted in cheers as the move was successfully completed, an achievement the BBC’s Palab Ghosh described as “absolutely amazing”.
