What is Mechazilla? The tower that catches rockets out of the sky
"Mechazilla" is the nickname for the most science-fiction piece of hardware in modern rocketry: SpaceX's launch tower at Starbase, and the two enormous arms on it that catch a returning booster in mid-air instead of letting it land on legs. Here's what it actually is, how the catch works — and a free browser game, LANDING BURN, that lets you fly the catch yourself.
The tower and the "chopsticks"
The structure itself is the launch and integration tower that stacks the Starship rocket. Bolted to it are two giant movable arms that fans nicknamed the chopsticks — and the whole apparatus picked up the name Mechazilla. Those arms ride up and down the tower on rails. They lift the rocket during assembly, and, most dramatically, they reach out to catch the Super Heavy booster as it returns.
How the catch works
The Super Heavy booster has no landing legs. Instead, near the top of the booster are two small hardpoints — catch pins. As the booster hovers down beside the tower, the arms position themselves and the pins settle onto them, hanging the entire 70-metre booster from the chopsticks. The arms then lower it back onto the launch mount. SpaceX pulled this off for the first time on Starship's fifth flight in October 2024.
Why bother catching it?
- No legs = less weight. Landing legs big enough for Super Heavy would be heavy and complex. Catching the booster removes them entirely, leaving more performance for the mission.
- Faster reuse. A caught booster can be set straight back on the mount and restacked, shrinking turnaround time — central to why reusable rockets are cheap.
- It scales. For a vehicle as big as Super Heavy, catching is simply more practical than building landing gear that could survive the loads.
Why it's so hard
The booster has to arrive in a slot only about 13 metres wide, sinking slowly, barely drifting, and nearly perfectly vertical — with a steel tower right next to it. There's no deck to forgive a rough touchdown; miss the window and there's nothing good underneath. That's exactly the challenge the game recreates.
Fly it yourself
In LANDING BURN, the tower mission is a full Mechazilla-style catch: the arms even track your altitude in the final seconds, and a live readout turns green only when slot, speed, drift and tilt all check out. It's the closest most of us will get to understanding why a real catch is such a big deal — free, in your browser.
FAQ
- Why is it called Mechazilla?
- It's an informal fan name — the towering, arm-wielding structure looked like something out of a kaiju movie, and the name stuck. SpaceX itself uses it loosely.
- Does Starship get caught too?
- The plan is for both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage to eventually be caught by tower arms, as part of full reusability. The booster catch came first.
- How is this different from a Falcon 9 landing?
- Falcon 9 lands on its own legs on a pad or droneship. Mechazilla catches a leg-less booster with the tower. See how SpaceX lands rockets.
- Can I really try it free?
- Yes — LANDING BURN runs in any browser, on desktop and phone, no download.