Rocket Lab recovers first stage booster via helicopter catch

twitter.com

41 pointsjffry4 comments

The stage was released by the pilot soon after capture:

> Rocket Lab says the recovery helicopter “offloaded” the Electron first stage for splashdown after catching the booster over the Pacific Ocean.

> The pilot noticed different load characteristics than experienced during previous testing, Rocket Lab said.

https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/status/152127608482158182...

That's a little bit of a bummer, but it's still incredible they managed to catch it. Hopefully they'll be able to refine their approach and get a solid catch next time!

And hopefully one of the refinements is they use a wider angle camera on the next one. It was pretty frustrating knowing the pilot is vectoring at a target they can see while i’m just staring at a wall of clouds until the last few seconds.

Link to article (with YouTube video) for those without a Twitter account: https://spaceflightnow.com/2022/05/02/electron-there-and-bac...

Edit: And direct link to YouTube: https://youtu.be/6nODVPGHQcc

Reply on news.ycombinator.com