Lift-off occurred at 7:25am (13:25 BST) in clear weather. The launch saw the main body of the Starship go into space and complete a successful splashdown in the Indian Ocean an hour after launch.
SpaceX achieved its first successful splashdown with Starship during its last flight in June.
NASA is also keenly awaiting a modified version of Starship to act as a lander vehicle for crewed flights to the Moon under the Artemis program later this decade.
SpaceX said its engineers have “spent years preparing and months testing for the booster catch attempt, with technicians pouring tens of thousands of hours into building the infrastructure to maximise our chances for success.”
Teams were monitoring to ensure “thousands” of criteria were met both on the vehicle and at the tower before any attempt to return the Super Heavy booster.
Had the conditions not been satisfied, the booster would have been redirected for a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, as in previous tests.
Instead, having been given the green light, the returning booster decelerated from supersonic speeds and the powerful “chopstick arms” embraced it.
The large mechanical arms, called “Mechazilla” by Musk, have generated considerable excitement among space enthusiasts.
The Super Heavy booster produces 16.6m pounds (74.3 meganewtons) of thrust, about twice as powerful as the Saturn V rockets used during the Apollo missions.
SpaceX’s “fail fast, learn fast” strategy of rapid iterative testing, even when its rockets blow up spectacularly, has ultimately accelerated development and contributed to the company’s success.
Founded only in 2002, it quickly leapfrogged aerospace industry giants and is now the world leader in orbital launches, besides providing the only US spaceship currently certified to carry astronauts.
It has also created the world’s biggest internet satellite constellation – invaluable in disaster and war zones.
