New impressive photos and video of the giant robotic arms “catching” the Super Heavy Booster, Elon Musk has released on his X account.

For the first time, SpaceX has attempted and succeeded in catching the Super Heavy rocket engine, or booster, which is located at the bottom of the spacecraft, as it returns to the launch site in Texas. At the launch site is the world’s tallest rocket tower, 146 meters tall with two giant robotic arms that SpaceX calls “chopsticks”. The arms gripped the rocket motor with incredible precision before repositioning it on the launch pad for its next flight.

“I just inspected the Starship engine, which the arms have now reattached to the launch pad. It looks great!

»Some external motor nozzles are warped from heating and some other minor issues, but these are easily remedied.

»Starship is designed to finally achieve re-flight of its rocket engine within an hour of liftoff. The booster returns within ~5 minutes, so the time left is to reload the propellant and place a craft on top of the rocket engine” commented Musk, founder of SpaceX.

Rapid reusability of rocket parts is seen as essential to achieving SpaceX’s goal of drastically reducing the time and cost of sending cargo and people into space.