---
title: "SpaceX Wants to Catch Starship Booster With Its Own Launch Tower"
description: "SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says the company will try to catch a Super Heavy booster rocket with a launch tower so it doesn't need to rely entirely on its legs."
date: "2021-01-04"
modified: "2021-01-04"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-catch-starship-booster-launch-tower"
categories:
  - "Space"
  - "SpaceX"
  - "Starship"
tags:
  - "reusable rockets"
  - "SpaceX"
  - "Starship"
  - "super heavy"
  - "the digest"
---

# SpaceX Wants to Catch Starship Booster With Its Own Launch Tower

![SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says the company will try to catch a Super Heavy booster rocket with a launch tower so it doesn't need to rely entirely on its legs.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/spacex-catch-starship-booster-launc-tower.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: SpaceX\</em\>*

## Trust Fall

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says the company plans to eventually try to catch a Super Heavy booster — the rocket that will launch the SpaceX Starship — with its own launch tower.

It's an extremely bold idea, and one that would put both the Super Heavy booster and the launch tower itself at risk of catastrophic failure, [according to *Ars Technica*](<https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/01/spacex-may-try-to-catch-a-falling-rocket-with-a-launch-tower/>). But if it does work, the accomplishment would be a major step forward in SpaceX's plans for reusing [more and more of its rockets](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-just-reused-a-single-booster-6th-time>), even shortly after they land.

## Quick Layover

Musk mentioned the idea [on Twitter](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1344327757916868608>) in response to a simulated Super Heavy landing.

"We’re going to try to catch the Super Heavy Booster with the launch tower arm, using the grid fins to take the load," Musk tweeted.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1344327757916868608

If the plan works — and as *Ars Technica* notes, that's a big "if" — Musk suggested [in a later tweet](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1344342598694047744>) that the Super Heavy may be ready for reuse within one hour since it's landing on its own launch site.

## Share The Load

Aside from a quicker turnaround time, using the launch tower to catch a Super Heavy booster would allow SpaceX to build the rocket to be lighter and therefore more efficient as a vehicle. Without using the tower, the booster would need to land on its own legs, which *Ars Technica* calculates would add about five to ten metric tons of weight.

In theory, it seems like a good way to lighten the load, but it remains to be seen whether SpaceX will be able to execute the idea without smashing its own tower in the process.

**READ MORE:** [SpaceX may try to catch a falling rocket with a launch tower](<https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/01/spacex-may-try-to-catch-a-falling-rocket-with-a-launch-tower/>) \[*Ars Technica*\]

**More on SpaceX:** *[SpaceX Just Reused a Single Booster for the 6th Time](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-just-reused-a-single-booster-6th-time>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)