SpaceX's Starship caught midair by mechanical arms on return to Earth

SpaceX's Starship return to Earth on Saturday, caught in midair by giant mechanical arms where its journey began 22 hours earlier.

It was the grand finale that Elon Musk and his team hoped for - the first-ever capture of a Starship flying back from space.

But with the first-stage booster exploding shortly after Friday's liftoff from Texas, the company fell short of its desired double catch.

Wreckage remained in the Gulf of Mexico, cordoned off by buoys, as the stainless steel, bullet-shaped spacecraft lowered itself upright at the launch pad.

SpaceX expects to begin launching Starships from Florida's Kennedy Space Center within the next few months.

That is the starting point for NASA's next Artemis mission, which will skip the moon and remain in orbit around Earth for lunar lander practice.

Artemis III's four astronauts will attempt to dock their capsule with not only Starship but Blue Origin's Blue Moon.