Elon Musk’s Starship rocket has completed a world first after part of it was captured on its return to the launch pad. The SpaceX vehicle's lower half manoeuvred back beside its launch tower where it was caught in a giant pair of mechanical arms, as part of its fifth test flight.

SpaceX’s Starship had its fifth test launch in 18 months on Sunday morning and successfully caught a component of the rocket with mechanical arms near where it was launched in Texas, multiple outlets reported, marking a major milestone for Elon Musk’s aerospace company.

Incredible photos showed Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship making a spectacular “belly flop” splash-down in the Indian Ocean Sunday morning following a successful test flight. The

Elon Musk’s Starship rocket has completed a world first after part of it was captured on its return to the launch pad. The SpaceX vehicle's lower half manoeuvred back beside its launch tower where it was caught in a giant pair of mechanical arms, as part of its fifth test flight, reports BBC.

SpaceX has successfully launched and landed Starship, the spacecraft it hopes will allow it to carry humanity throughout the solar system. In an astonishing success, SpaceX used mechanical arms it refers to as “chopsticks” to catch its booster on the launchpad with the hope of reusing it.

SpaceX marked a breakthrough in rocket technology with the successful landing of Starship’s “Super Heavy” booster on the tower’s mechanical arms, known as "Mechazilla." Minutes after launching from the Texas-Mexico border at sunrise,

Starship is a two-stage vehicle. The “Ship” is the uppermost part, and that sits atop a booster called Super Heavy. Thirty-three engines at the base of this booster produce around 74 meganewtons of thrust.

President Xi wants to build China into a “space power.” But SpaceX’s big lead and China’s security concerns could hinder the nation’s private launch startups.