The risky maneuver is a step toward SpaceX’s goal of full reusability for Starship, which is the world’s most powerful rocket, and is key to NASA’s plans to return to the moon.

Oct 13 (Reuters) - SpaceX in its fifth Starship test flight on Sunday returned the rocket's towering first stage booster back to its Texas launch pad for the first time using giant mechanical arms, achieving another novel engineering feat in the company's push to build a reusable moon and Mars vehicle.

SpaceX made history when it successfully caught the Starship's Super Heavy booster in "chopstick" arms. Here is why it no longer uses landing gear.

The company completed a successful test flight of the most powerful rocket ever built. Some residents near the Texas site experienced shaking as the landing vehicle was caught by mechanical arms.

Mechazilla, a giant metal arm, successfully caught SpaceX's descending rocket booster during fifth test launch.

In SpaceX's fifth test flight of its Starship rocket, the company successfully returned the “Super Heavy” booster to the arms of the launch tower for the first time. The Starship rocket is designed to be fully reusable and a part of NASA’s plan to return astronauts to the moon.

Elon Musk stands victorious in his ambitious Starship plans now that SpaceX caught the Super Heavy booster with giant chopsticks as it fell to Earth.

SpaceX stunned the world during its Starship rocket test over the weekend, catching its booster in midair after it came back from space and landing the rest of the rocket in the ocean after a plunge through Earth’s atmosphere.

What can your company learn from SpaceX’s remarkable engineering success? Think like a startup and move fast, get things wrong, try again, while ignoring the critics.

For the first time, SpaceX used mechanical arms dubbed “chopsticks” on the launch tower to capture the Starship rocket booster.