Elon Musk's SpaceX achieved a historic milestone when it was able to grab its Starship spacecraft with its launch tower's mechanical arms for the first time, after a 22.5-hour mission in space.
During its 15th test flight, Starship completed 14 orbits around Earth and deployed 26 Starlink satellites before re-entering the atmosphere at about 17,000 miles per hour (27,400 km/h). The 52-meter-long spacecraft made a controlled vertical descent into the giant robotic arm towers, demonstrating a critical capability for future spacecraft reuse.
However, the super-heavy booster failed to return and was destroyed over the Gulf of Mexico, preventing the planned recovery of both rocket stages. The successful concept of the starship nevertheless represents a major breakthrough towards fully reusable spacecraft, which could reduce launch costs and support future missions to the Moon and Mars.