Mechanical SpaceX arms catch returning Starship rocket booster at launch pad [Video]

SPACE-X HAS PULLED off its boldest test flight yet of the enormous Starship rocket, catching the returning booster back at the launch pad with mechanical arms.

A jubilant Elon Musk called it “science fiction without the fiction part”.

Towering almost 400 feet, the empty Starship blasted off at sunrise from the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border.

It arced over the Gulf of Mexico like the four Starships before it that ended up being destroyed, either soon after lift-off or while ditching into the sea.

The last one in June was the most successful yet, completing its flight without exploding.

This time, SpaceX founder and chief executive Musk upped the challenge and risk.

The company brought the first-stage booster back to land at the pad from which it had soared seven minutes earlier. The launch tower sported monstrous metal arms, dubbed chopsticks, that caught the descending 232-ft booster.

The tower has caught the rocket!! pic.twitter.com/CPXsHJBdUh

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) …