Rocket Lab first caught a falling rocket stage using a helicopter
Miscellaneous / / May 03, 2022
True, not everything went according to plan.
After almost three years of preparation, the California company Rocket Lab caught the falling stage of the reusable Electron rocket for the first time. This mission was planned on April 19, but took place only on the night of May 3.
The hitch starts at the 52nd minute of the broadcast.
A modified Sikorsky S-92 helicopter was used for this task. He managed to catch a rocket stage falling with a brake parachute, hooking it with a hook at an altitude of about 2 km, after it launched 34 small satellites into orbit.
After coupling, the pilot of the helicopter reported an excessive load, which turned out to be higher than the test one. The pilot decided to unhook the landing stage, after which it was removed from the water and transported to land. According to Rocket Lab, the stage is in excellent condition, but whether it can be reused is not yet known.
Rocket Lab's goal is to reduce manufacturing costs and the time between launches of small Electron rockets. If their steps can be caught when they fall to the Earth, then there will be no need to create them from scratch each time.
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