Starship Flight 5

The launch tower at Starbase had been built as both pad and landing site. Its two mechanical arms, mounted to the tower itself, were designed to grip an orbital-class booster mid-descent.

On 13 October 2024, the fifth integrated Starship flight lifted from Orbital Launch Pad 1. Seven minutes after liftoff, Super Heavy Booster 12 returned to the tower, and the arms closed around it.

No booster of this scale had been recovered by launch infrastructure before. Every prior orbital-class booster recovery, going back to the first Falcon 9 landing in December 2015, had resolved into a stand: legs down, engines cut. Booster 12 never touched the ground.

Ship 30 completed the flight and splashed down in the Indian Ocean.