On October 13, 2024, SpaceX will attempt an ambitious new feat: catching the Super Heavy booster with the “chopstick” arms on the launch tower at its Starbase facility in Texas for its fifth Starship test flight. If successful, the feat would represent a huge step forward in terms of rocket reusability for SpaceX – substantially reducing refurbishment time and making rapid reflight capabilities a possibility.
The “chopsticks” system, previously used to stack the rocket stages, will now be used to catch the 230-foot booster from mid-air as it returns to the launch site. This is a very high-risk maneuver which will render sea-based landing platforms for boosters obsolete. All of this will send the whole thing moving at a faster clip. The mission is a critical milestone test of SpaceX long-term ambitions: Mars colonization and supporting NASA’s Artemis lunar missions.

The FAA issued air notices recently ahead of the launch, indicating progress in obtaining the final launch license. In case the booster is caught successfully, there will be unloading of any residuum propellant to ensure safe post-flight handling of the vehicle.

On the booster, SpaceX will, at the same time, achieve a soft splashdown of the upper-stage Starship. This will help acquire important data on future missions to enable SpaceX to refine procedures that could enable the return of both components of the rocket and ensure nothing gets lost to be reused thereafter. It is an exciting step toward building a fully reusable launch system, which remains a crucial component of SpaceX’s cost-reduction strategy in spaceflight.

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