SpaceX's Starship vehicle returned Saturday from a 22-hour journey to orbit and landed for the first time on two giant mechanical arms at the tower in Texas from which it had launched the day before, a vital recovery for the company's decade-long effort to develop a fully reusable rocket.
The 52-meter-tall starship descended from dense clouds above SpaceX's Starbase site, restarted its engines to turn it into a vertical position, and then slowly descended into the arms of the launch tower known as "Michelle," while its engines remained on. After being scorched by the intense heat upon its return from space, the vehicle shut down its engines and remained suspended motionless after the longest mission to date for the missile system.