SpaceX, the company led by Elon Musk, has carried out the first-ever recovery of a spaceship, successfully catching its Starship vessel as it returned to its launch site in Starbase, Texas, after a day in orbit.

The spacecraft emerged from a cloudy sky after withstanding the extreme heat of re-entering Earth's atmosphere, then descended slowly over Starbase before slipping smoothly between mechanical "chopstick arms" above Launch Pad 2.S2

Musk congratulated the SpaceX team and posted videos of the spaceship hanging between the arms, saying the vessel "looks great!"S1

The feat marks a milestone in the space industry's decades-long pursuit of fully reusable rocket systems, a goal that could drastically reduce mission costs and make more frequent launches possible.S2