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

At the flight director’s command, the first-stage booster flew back to the launch pad where it had blasted off seven minutes earlier. The launch tower’s monstrous metal arms, dubbed chopsticks, caught the descending 232-foot (71-meter) stainless steel booster and gripped it tightly, dangling it well above the ground.

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.

While there's no exact date set yet for the rocket’s next flight, it could be as soon as this weekend - and SpaceX is expecting big things. This will be Starship's fifth outing, and all eyes will be on the landing phases – specifically, the return of the vehicle’s bottom part, the Super Heavy booster.

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,

SpaceX successfully "caught" the first-stage booster of its Starship mega-rocket Sunday as it returned to the launch pad after a test flight, a world first in the company's quest for rapid reusability.

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.