SpaceX just pulled off something no one had ever done: catching a Starship upper stage with its launch tower. Ship 42, a 171-foot-tall spacecraft, came back after about 22 hours and 14 trips around Earth and settled between the tower's "chopstick" arms at Starbase, Texas, at about 4:20 p.m. ET on Saturday. The video shows the ship's controlled descent, engine burns and precise capture while the crowd erupted in cheers. It was like parallel parking a multi-story building after a day in orbit. SpaceX had caught its Super Heavy boosters three times before, but every ship had been brought down in the ocean until now.

The win came after a rough start. On Friday, the booster called off its own catch, diverted to the Gulf of Mexico and exploded, with early indications pointing to a low-fuel alarm. Even so, the ship reached orbit and deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites before making its trip home. Landing both stages back where they launched is the key to SpaceX's dream of fully reusable rockets and much faster turnaround between flights. But SpaceX has not yet reflown a caught ship, and some outside experts have questioned whether Starship's tile heat shield can support rapid, low-cost reuse. The next test is whether the vehicle can fly again, and how soon.