A helicopter caught a falling missile before the crew was forced to launch it for safety reasons about 20 seconds later.
The achievement was made by a company called Rocket Lab, which aims to launch satellites using its reusable Electron rockets.
After the main accelerator launched 34 satellites into orbit on Tuesday, it fell back to Earth, amused by a parachute.
The crew of the Rocket Lab helicopter – flying a Sikorsky S-92 helicopter at 6,500 feet (1980 m) – tried to catch him by grabbing the parachute lines with a hanging cable and hook.
Image: The helicopter tried to catch the accelerator while parachuting. Photo: Rocket Labs
However, the weight of the booster is more than what they tested in tests and simulations, so they were forced to run it again.
He continued his descent into the Pacific Ocean and was picked up by a waiting boat.
Peter Beck, who founded the company, said the task of collecting boosters was like “supersonic ballet” that it was so complex.
He said the mission was successful, even though the helicopter was forced to launch the rocket – describing the unexpected load problem as “nothing in the scheme”.
He said the helicopter crew “got a great catch, they just didn’t like how the cargo felt” and added that a detailed analysis would reveal the reasons.
The company hopes to save part or all of the booster, even though it is sprayed in the salt water of the Pacific Ocean.
The reuse of rockets has become the holy grail of the space industry after the achievements of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, whose Falcon 9 launch vehicles are able to land upright.
Rocket Lab’s Electron boosters are much smaller than Falcon 9 rockets, they can’t carry that much payload and they can’t land on their own, but the company believes it can make big savings by catching rockets after launch. them.
Mr Beck, the company’s chief executive, said that even simply returning this Electron rocket to the production line means they will see some good cost savings as they will not have to recover from scratch.
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