Partially successful test of helicopter grabbing a returning rocket out of the air

[Warpy]

This is pretty neat stuff and more efficient than the Flash Gordon Space X touchdowns:

Apparently there was a partial splashdown and that's why the load felt different.

[CloudWatcher]

1. Cool but I don't think it scales up

Very cool, but I'm not sure how big the booster can get before they're too heavy to catch on the fly with any existing helicopter. Should be great for RocketLab's smaller launcher though.

[Warpy]

2. Watch the video, it's not supposed to scale up

This is for light rockets that launch small satellites, which is what this one did before it got snagged on the return trip.

It looks like they need to work on their timing. The whole point is to grab the small rocket before it splashes into the water.

[CloudWatcher]

3. Space-X

I mentioned scaling because of your comment about "more efficient than the Flash Gordon Space X touchdowns" ... I don't think helicopters were ever an option for Falcon 9 size rockets, let alone for something the size of StarShip.

And of course I could be mistaken, I'm no rocket scientist

[Warpy]

4. Ah.

With heavy rockets, that is most likely the best option for now, until we can managed soft desert landings that won't dent either the rocket or its engines. Salt water really screws them up.

It's still an inefficient way of doing things, using all that fuel.