After aborting a planned catch of Starship Flight 15's booster, SpaceX successfully captured Starship with its "Mechazilla" launch and catch tower for the first time. The company has performed 'chopstick' catches of its boosters before, but this is the first time the maneuver has successfully been executed on the Starship vehicle itself.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said during the company's third-quarter earnings call that "success is not guaranteed on these first flights, but I'd say it's more likely than not that this succeeds next flight." While not a complete success, in that the company was unable to recover the entire launch vehicle, it sti …
