Rocket Lab catches Electron trap with helicopter during test

The American Rocket Lab has captured part of a rocket from the air for the first time with a helicopter. The company is thus taking an important first step towards making its own Electron rocket reusable.

The test took place at the beginning of March, but Rocket Lab is only now releasing the results. During the test, a first stage of the Electron rocket was thrown from a helicopter over the ocean. The stairs fell down on a parachute, and was picked up by a second helicopter. That happened in the Pacific Ocean near New Zealand, from where the company operates. The stairs were collected at a height of 1.5 kilometers.

Rocket Lab is one of the companies that wants to try to make their rockets reusable. The company’s rockets should not land as SpaceX and Blue Origin, among others, want to do, but are collected during the return to Earth. In previous tests by the company in December and January, the company already managed to adjust the rocket in the air. In one of those tests, the company turned the rocket stage 180 degrees and successfully slowed it down to just 900 kilometers per hour before the stage fell into the sea. As a next step, the company wants to reuse an entire first stage after launching for a second launch. That staircase is not caught yet, but has to come back with a parachute and fall into the ocean. The test is scheduled for the end of this year.