Rocket Lab captures rocket with helicopter from the sky after successful launch

The American space company Rocket Lab has captured a launched rocket for the first time with a helicopter on its return. The company wants to safely bring the booster back to Earth so that it can be reused. After the capture, the rocket still fell into the sea.

Rocket Lab launched an Electron rocket from its own launch site in New Zealand on Monday evening. The rocket successfully launched 34 small satellites into orbit. Rocket Lab has performed successful Electron missions before, but this mission saw the company achieve minor success in recovering the rocket’s first stage for the first time. Unlike SpaceX, Rocket Lab doesn’t want to land the booster itself, but catch it with a helicopter. This has now been achieved for the first time during an operational flight, but only temporarily.

The booster fell back to earth on a parachute after detonating the second stage. Next, a pilot in a Sikorsky S-92 helicopter with a hook attached to a cable attempted to intercept that parachute in flight. That worked about 15 minutes after launch, like can be seen on the webcast after 52 minutes. Shortly after, the image goes out. The company later said that the pilot had disconnected the rocket himself. He did that because the rocket felt different than expected. The pilot decided to drop the rocket into the sea after all, so that it could be picked up by boat.

The mission was therefore only partially successful, but nevertheless an important milestone for Rocket Lab. The company already announced in 2019 that it would like to receive the booster with a helicopter, but so far it has only let the rockets fall back into the sea. The Rocket Lab did manage to catch a rocket during a test in 2020. It just didn’t happen after a launch, but after another helicopter dropped the booster. Rocket Lab hopes to redeploy the Electron rocket it has now used by the end of this year. The goal, like SpaceX, is to create a rocket that will not be affected by salty seawater and that can be reused more than once to reduce costs.