Elon says they are going to try and catch the booster on the next flight.
Current schedule estimate is some time in July. (Elon time )
This should be spectacular.

I'm trying to decide if I want to watch from the ground or the Air.
First flight I took the Breezy to Tx.... don't really want to do that flight again...
I might take the 182 and remove the door for better video...
or take the Aerostar and watch from South Padre.

Is anyone else going?

that seems pretty frightening to me. I would think that the very first time you try and catch the booster you'd do it with a tower far away from your main facility. But that would probably be too much of an investment for a 1-time test. Rock & a hard place.

I'd love to go down from Sugar Land, but my 182 will be in the paint shop and I don't fancy the drive so I'll probably end up watching the stream instead!

I imagine they built a "virtual" catch tower out of GPS coordinates and practiced landing maneuvers on flight 4. I wonder if they were able to achieve sub 1 meter accuracy. It seems to me that that accuracy would allow them to pull it off. They appear to have sub 1 meter accuracy on the Falcon booster landings when you account for the fact that the barge has some movement.

Given their SOP of accepting failures, a failed catch would come at a very high cost.

I got an inside the ropes tour at Boca Chica about a year and a half ago and it was amazing. I look forward to seeing a launch, and a catch, in person.

Everyday Astronaut interviewed Elon and he confirmed they did hit their target with the booster

The starship hit within 6km, but that was mostly due to the flap failure and partial loss of full control/accuracy

The main reason they stated they are hesitating on the catch attempt is the chopsticks they have on the tower are an old design and are too long/too much mass

But, he said why not just try them so you have a reason to discard them and put the right one on

As to risk of the launch pad, the new launch pad they are building adjacent to it will be taller to accept the larger booster configuration, so they are kind of at the end of the life of the launch pad they have now, it's basically a large prototype they are ready to move on from

If you watch any of the interviews of them walking on the launch tower, nothing was painted or finished, all of the steel is bare/raw, because they know they're not using it long enough to care

They were conducting test catches today, using a short booster section weighted to match the weight of the returning booster. I think there’s more to come.

Dropping with a crane into the chops?

Who else clicked this thread expecting to see a Beechcraft Model 2000?

That’s the plan, though “dropping” will likely be minimal.

This is the “Brand X” forum.

This is the “Brand X” forum.