Rocket Lab says it just used a helicopter to grab a rocket booster as it fell to Earth
In a mission called ‘There and Back’, the 25-year-old space company managed to capture a falling rocket booster from a helicopter in midair after a launch for the first time.
About 15 minutes after launch, cheers were heard on the livestream as the first-stage booster, which provides the initial liftoff thrust but detaches after expended fuel and deploying parachutes on its descent, appeared to be caught trapped by the hook helicopter.
It is not yet clear if the rocket booster has returned to dry land safely. The company said it would give further updates just before 8 p.m. ET.
“It requires extreme precision. Several critical steps must align perfectly to ensure a successful capture,” Murielle Baker, Senior Communications Advisor
The Electron rocket, Rocket Lab’s small rocket capable of launching objects into Earth orbit, lifted off at 6:50 p.m. ET (10:50 a.m. local time) in New Zealand for a commercial mission. The mission deployed 34 satellite payloads for a number of commercial operators, bringing the total number of satellites launched by Electron into space to 146. Rocket Lab has completed 25 launches with 3 failures since 2018.
Rocket boosters are used to push payloads through Earth’s atmosphere and into orbit, and on this Rocket Lab launch, the booster was jettisoned after the first two and a half minutes of flight.
After separating from the booster, the Electron rocket continued to orbit to perform the satellite deployment as the booster fell back to Earth at nearly 5150 miles per hour. Once close enough to Earth’s surface, the booster deployed parachutes to slow its descent. A helicopter was waiting to hook the booster parachute with a hook.
NASA has recovered spent rocket boosters from the Atlantic Ocean after a space shuttle launch. Rocket Lab plans to pursue the helicopter technique to retrieve its boosters. The company said Electron was not large enough to carry the fuel supply needed for a vertical landing, and landing in salt water sea can cause corrosion and physical damage.
A custom Sikorsky S-92 helicopter, a large twin-engine helicopter typically used for search and rescue missions and offshore oil and gas transport, was used on Monday grab. Following the successful capture of the thruster, the company planned to fly the machinery to an offshore recovery vessel before heading to the company’s production complex for evaluation.
Rocket Lab has already fished boosters from the ocean in three of Electron’s previous 25 missions. It was the first attempt at taking flight.
Since its inception in 2006, Rocket Lab has deployed satellites into orbit for clients including NASA, the US Space Force, the National Reconnaissance Office and Canon.
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