Live Updates: SpaceX Launches Starship Test Flight 7

Today, SpaceX will try to put a unique and daring concept to the test – perhaps another success in returning the Super Heavy booster to a safe landing at the launch tower just minutes after liftoff.

If all goes according to plan, the Super Heavy booster, once separated from the Starship spacecraft, will steer itself into the arms of the Mechazilla, a massive structure back at SpaceX’s launch site that the company designed to catch rockets in midair as they goes in for landing.

The tower was named “Mechazilla” by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for its resemblance to a metallic Godzilla.

The structure’s arms, or “chopsticks,” can be used to stack and move boosters and spacecraft at the launch site before liftoff, as well as catch a rocket as it maneuvers to land, according to SpaceX.

Although the maneuver worked successfully during SpaceX’s fifth test launch in October, the company abandoned another attempt to land the booster during a test flight in November due to problems back on the ground.

But SpaceX indicated that its hopes are higher for this launch, noted in a web post that hardware “upgrades to the launch and capture tower will increase the reliability of booster catch.” The upgrades include better protection of sensors on the Mechazilla turret, which the company said was damaged during takeoff in November, leading to SpaceX to divert to an ocean landing for the booster.

Either by Mechazilla capture or ocean splashdown, the Super Heavy’s landing will occur about seven minutes after takeoff.