SpaceX has reached historic milestone after performing the fifth unmanned test of its Starship rocket on Sunday, with the company catching a booster with a pair of giant mechanical arms on its return to the launch pad.

With the development of Starship, SpaceX aims to create a fully reusable spacecraft capable of carrying both crew and cargo to a variety of destinations, including Mars.

Around seven minutes after the launch of its latest trial, at the SpaceX base in Boca Chica, South Texas, the rocket re-entered the atmosphere, ignited its engines to slow down and landed on the launch tower from which it took off.

The "Super Heavy" booster lifted off at 7:25 a.m. CT (1225 GMT) and launched the spaceship into space, parting at an altitude of roughly 70 km.

During its descent, the booster slowed its speed as it headed for the launch tower, where two metal arms hooked it back up. The new catch-landing system represents the latest development in SpaceX’s test-to-failure capabilities.

The new landing method is one of the latest developments by SpaceX as part of its tests of a reusable rocket that can carry cargo and humans to the Moon, and eventually to Mars.

"The tower has caught the rocket!!" chief executive Elon Musk wrote on X after the mission was completed.

Images of the re-entry spread around on social media, where several people called it a historic event.

“Today a big step was taken towards multiplanetary life,” wrote Elon Musk on X.

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