Rocket Lab makes first booster catch attempt during successful There And Back Again mission

After announcing plans to recover and reuse the first stage of the company’s Electron rocket back in 2019, the California-based rocket company has attempted a mid-air recovery for the very first time. After a successful mid-air catch, the recovery helicopter pilot noticed different load characteristics than expected, and released the stage so it could softly splash down for an ocean recovery. The “There and Back Again” mission launched at 22:49 UTC on May 2, delivering 34 payloads to a sun-synchronous orbit of 520km. The mission was originally scheduled to launch on April 19 but was repeatedly delayed to wait for favorable weather for the experimental recovery attempt. More

(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - May 3)