SpaceX will try to catch a Starship booster out of the sky this month

SpaceX is attempting to catch one of its Starship Super Heavy boosters mid-air this month — a mid-air recovery of the booster using the launch tower's mechanical arms. The company has been testing this capability since 2023 as part of its broader booster recovery program, and the current attempt is one of many planned this year.

The broader context: SpaceX has been pushing hard on reusability for years now, and mid-air catches are a way of landing boosters faster than parachutes — which means more frequent flights and lower cost per launch. But the real question is who actually benefits from the work going into these rockets. The people building them, not the company profiting off the sky.

Why this matters for us: The people doing the work on these rockets should be the ones getting the benefits, not just the company cashing in on the profits.