Lab catches – then drops – rocket booster

Rocket Lab has successfully caught one of its Electron rocket boosters, using a helicopter, as it parachuted back towards the Pacific Ocean after launch.

But shortly after the capture, the pilot noticed the helicopter was behaving differently than it had in testing, and for safety the booster was dropped into the ocean, where it will be recovered by a vessel.

At 11.06am yesterday, the falling rocket booster was caught midair by a Sikorsky S-92 helicopter, which weighed 7 tonnes and was about the size of a school bus.

The helicopter was equipped with a long line with a capture hook on the end, which was manoeuvred onto the falling rocket booster’s parachute line.

Rocket Lab spokesperson Murielle Baker said catching a rocket booster as it fell from space was as difficult as it sounded.

The helicopter had caught the falling rocket three times in practice runs, but the unconventional mission was far from a sure bet, she said. ‘‘This is the ultimate recovery mission.’’

The Electron rocket booster would be taken back to Mahia Peninsula, where Rocket Lab engineers would assess whether it was suitable to be reused for further flights.

The New Zealand-founded firm, which is now headquartered in the United States, planned to conduct the launch on Saturday morning, but pushed it back to Tuesday to take advantage of better weather. As well as the first time a rocket booster has been successfully caught mid-air on re-entry, the mission was also the largest payload in a Rocket Lab mission so far, taking 34 satellites into orbit.

The mission was Rocket Lab’s 25th commercial mission from its base on the Māhia Peninsular near Gisborne.

A Rocket Lab spokesperson said the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter had been based in Christchurch for this mission, but might move elsewhere for future ones.

That was because – despite being launched straight upwards – rockets eventually started travelling south due to the Earth’s rotation.

Christchurch was the perfect place to intercept it, they said.

The 34 small satellites launched into orbit for a variety of customers on yesterday’s mission has brought the total number of satellites Rocket Lab has launched to 146.

It was also planning the first private interplanetary space mission next year, to Venus, in a long shot search for signs of life.

Rocket Lab have made a giant step forward in their mission to create reusable rockets, by catching a falling rocket booster with a helicopter, inset, as it fell to earth.