Elon Musk’s SpaceX catches Starship spacecraft mid-air, achieves historic first: Video

The spacecraft reappeared through thick clouds after withstanding the intense heat of its return through Earth's atmosphere. (Photo: Screengrab/X@SpaceX)

SpaceX on Saturday successfully completed the first-ever mid-air recovery of its Starship spacecraft, using giant mechanical arms to capture the returning vehicle at its Texas launch facility.

The breakthrough represents a major advance towards developing fully reusable rockets, potentially lowering the cost of space missions and enabling more frequent launches, AFP reported.

The spacecraft reappeared through thick clouds after withstanding the intense heat of its return through Earth’s atmosphere.

It gradually descended over SpaceX’s Starbase facility before being secured between two enormous mechanical structures, popularly known as ‘chopstick arms’, positioned above Launch Pad 2.

Mechazilla catches Starship! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on this incredible achievement! https://t.co/YJzmGUZb2B

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 14, 2026

The achievement was greeted with loud celebrations by spectators gathered along the Gulf of Mexico coastline near Starbase. SpaceX’s official livestream accompanied the spacecraft’s final descent with the 1977 hit song ‘Baby Come Back’.

“That was the Holy Grail of spaceflight, plummeting through fire to be snatched out of the air by steel. We caught a Starship and now, everything changes,” SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot said.

The operation was part of the 15th test flight of the world’s largest and most powerful rocket system. During its 22-hour mission, Starship completed 14 orbits around Earth and released 26 satellites belonging to Elon Musk’s Starlink internet network.

Although SpaceX had previously managed to recover its returning Super Heavy booster using the mechanical arms on three occasions, capturing the Starship spacecraft presented a substantially greater challenge. The vehicle returns from a considerably higher altitude and travels at much greater speeds than the booster.

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Musk congratulated the company’s engineers and shared footage of the spacecraft suspended between the mechanical arms, describing it as looking “great!”

Clayton Swope, an aerospace specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, described the operation as a “huge technical achievement and proves the whole idea of Starship as a fully reusable spaceship can work.”

However, he added: “Let’s see how quickly they can do it again.”

Kathleen Curlee, an analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, also welcomed the development but stressed that the company would need to demonstrate consistent results.

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“What SpaceX needs is multiple repeated successes to prove the capability… to handle sensitive payloads and missions,” Curlee said.