SpaceX catches rockets in the air.
Posted by The Dan Bongino Show, Checked
- Sources
- 4 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 85%
The Dan Bongino ShowOct 16, 2026
SpaceX has caught rocket boosters mid-air with its launch-tower arms, first during Starship flight 5 in October 2024 and again in a later January 2025 booster catch at the pad. The claim's plural, habitual phrasing rests on these catches, and the post's reference to catching rockets in mid-air matches the reporting.
What was said
… He's done things everybody, flying cars, like you saw that in The Jetsons. No one thought that was real. It's real. It just have that's not AI. That's an actual car that goes airborne. Only Elon would combine a rocket company that catches rockets in the middle of the air no, yes, that too with a car company and, like, completely blow people's minds. Why am I optimistic about the future? Because these people there it is right there. That's not AI either. That's the chopsticks catching a rocket. We were told that would never happen either. It just happened in the last few years. …
The Dan Bongino Show · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. Reuters reported that on October 13, 2024 SpaceX's Super Heavy booster was caught mid-descent by the launch tower's mechanical arms during Starship's fifth test flight.[1]
Supports. BBC and Scientific American independently reported the same mid-air capture of the returning booster by mechanical arms, described as a first in spaceflight.[3][4]
Supports. AP reported in January 2025 that SpaceX caught a rocket booster at the launch pad during a later Starship test, showing the capability was repeated beyond the first catch.[2]
Context. Coverage notes that a second catch attempt in November 2024 was aborted, so catches were not guaranteed on every attempt.[5]
Sources
5 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 1 tier 1, 1 tier 2, 1 not rated
- 1SpaceX catches giant Starship booster in fifth flight testreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2SpaceX loses spacecraft after catching rocket booster at the ...apnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 3Space X catches rocket booster in mid-air for the first timebbc.co.uk · tier 1 · cited for: supports
- 4SpaceX Catches a Falling Starship—A First in Spaceflight ...scientificamerican.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 5The scientific advances that changed the world in 2024 - i Newspaperinews.co.uk · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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