SpaceX first captured the starship returning from space with the mechanical "arms" of the launch tower.
The ship was launched on November 13 from the SpaceX base in Texas, sending 26 Starlink satellites into orbit and making 14 orbits around the Earth. 22 hours after launch, he returned to the same tower - and his mechanical "arms" lifted him into the air, AP writes.
Previously, SpaceX had only captured boosters (the first stages of a rocket) this way, and the company had succeeded three times. SpaceX believes the capture demonstrates the full reusability of the spacecraft, which is being created for flights to the Moon and Mars.
At the same time, this time the launch booster could not be caught - on the way back its engines shut down too soon, and the guidance system automatically took it into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and began self-destruction. The cause is being investigated.
NASA chief Jared Isaacman wrote in X that it was "almost magical." NASA, AP writes, is paying SpaceX billions of dollars for a starship to land Artemis program astronauts on the moon by the end of the decade and help build a permanent base there.