SpaceX's Starship Completes Fifth Test Flight - and Lands Booster Back at Launch Tower

Early this morning SpaceX successfully launched its Starship rocket on its fifth test flight. But more importantly, CNBC points out, SpaceX 'made a dramatic first catch of the rocket's more than 20-story tall booster.'

Watch the footage here. It's pretty exciting...

The achievement marks a major milestone toward SpaceX's goal of making Starship a fully reusable rocket system... The rocket's 'Super Heavy' booster returned to land on the arms of the company's launch tower nearly seven minutes after launch.

'Are you kidding me?' SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot said on the company's webcast. 'What we just saw, that looked like magic,' Huot added...

Starship separated and continued on to space, traveling halfway around the Earth before reentering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Indian Ocean as intended to complete the test. There were no people on board the fifth Starship flight. The company's leadership has said SpaceX expects to fly hundreds of Starship missions before the rocket launches with any crew...

With the booster catch, SpaceX has surpassed the fourth test flight's milestones... The company sees the ambitious catch approach as critical to its goal of making the rocket fully reusable. 'SpaceX engineers have spent years preparing and months testing for the booster catch attempt, with technicians pouring tens of thousands of hours into building the infrastructure to maximize our chances for success,' the company wrote on its website.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.