SpaceX launches starship Mega-Rocket and catches its booster in midair on first try.
SpaceX launches starship Mega-Rocket and catches its booster in midair on first try.
The success is a giant leap toward the company's goal to take humans and cargo all the way to Mars on the world's biggest and most powerful launch vehicle
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I could be mistaken on this: don't they get just one try?
For that particular booster, sure. For boosters in general, not really.
They could have tried again with another booster and landing pad.
The landing pad wasn't really at risk. If they had hit it it would have been relatively low speed, by the time it was at the catch attempt it was at like 30 km/h or something. Hitting a big steel object at that speed would have probably done more damage to the booster than anything else
It wasn't the first starship launch but it was the first where they tried to land onto the chopsticks. Last time I believe they simulated the same thing but landed in the ocean instead. They did get just one try with this particular rocket since if it was unsuccesfull the rocket would now be in a million pieces.