Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 October 23 Mechazilla has caught the Super Heavy booster! [2]pic.twitter.com/6R5YatSVJX — SpaceX (@SpaceX) [3]October 13, 2024 Caught Credit & Copyright: [4]SpaceX Explanation: What if a rocket could return to its launch tower -- and be caught? This happened for the first time 10 days ago, after a [5]SpaceX Starship rocket blasted off from its pad in [6]Boca Chica, [7]Texas, [8]USA. Starship then [9]split, as planned, with its upper stage landing in the [10]Pacific Ocean. The big difference was the lower stage, [11]Super Heavy Booster 12, was caught by its launch tower about [12]7 minutes later. Catching a rocket for reuse is a new and innovative way to help reduce the cost of [13]rocket flight by making rockets more easily reusable. [14]Starship rockets may be used by [15]NASA in the future to send spacecraft to [16]Earth orbit, the [17]Moon, and even [18]other planets. Tomorrow's picture: open space __________________________________________________________________ [19]< | [20]Archive | [21]Submissions | [22]Index | [23]Search | [24]Calendar | [25]RSS | [26]Education | [27]About APOD | [28]Discuss | [29]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [30]Robert Nemiroff ([31]MTU) & [32]Jerry Bonnell ([33]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [34]Specific rights apply. [35]NASA Web Privacy, [36]Accessibility, [37]Notices; A service of: [38]ASD at [39]NASA / [40]GSFC, [41]NASA Science Activation & [42]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://t.co/6R5YatSVJX 3. https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1845442658397049011?ref_src=twsrc^tfw 4. https://www.spacex.com/ 5. https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/ 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boca_Chica_(Texas) 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States 9. https://chert-poberi.ru/wp-content/uploads/2016/proga/222/sasha-19october1619394239.jpg 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ocean 11. https://starship-spacex.fandom.com/wiki/Booster_12_(B12) 12. https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1845442658397049011 13. https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/spacex-launches-fifth-starship-test-eyes-novel-booster-catch-2024-10-13/ 14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Starship 15. https://www.nasa.gov/ 16. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/orbits/ 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190717.html 18. https://science.nasa.gov/mars/ 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241022.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 23. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 25. https://apod.com/feed.rss 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 28. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=241023 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241024.html 30. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 31. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 32. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 33. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 35. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 36. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 37. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/ 38. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 39. https://www.nasa.gov/ 40. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 41. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 42. http://www.mtu.edu/