Mr. Steven is a hard trier, but it's not quite ready to play for the Yankees yet.
SpaceX is all about recycling used rocket parts. It already re-launches parts of flown Falcon 9s, but Elon Musk's company also wants to reuse fairings, the protective nose cones that shield payloads as they're hurtled into space. This is a job for a modified supply ship named Mr. Steven, which acts like a giant catcher's mitt.
SpaceX posted a video this week showing Mr. Steven's latest attempt to snag a fairing half in a huge net. A helicopter dropped the fairing, which floated down by parachute toward the ocean. The ship made a run to try to snag it.Â
Recent fairing recovery test with Mr. Steven. So close! pic.twitter.com/DFSCfBnM0Y
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 8, 2019
The ship just missed and the fairing fell into the water. "Recent fairing recovery test with Mr. Steven. So close!" SpaceX tweeted.Â
Mr. Steven attempted to catch a nose cone in Feburary 2018, but also missed that one. This latest test was tantalizingly close to success.Â
While catching fairings would spare them from contacting ocean water, a brief dunking doesn't necessarily mean they can't be reused.Â
Musk tweeted in December after Mr. Steven missed a fairing from a launch, saying, "Falcon fairing halves missed the net, but touched down softly in the water. Mr Steven is picking them up. Plan is to dry them out & launch again. Nothing wrong with a little swim."