Helicopter catches rocket from space in mid-air

A helicopter has managed to catch a rocket booster in mid-air, as it fell back to Earth from space!

The epic catch was part of a mission by a company called Rocket Lab, who wanted to try to capture and re-use rocket boosters for future space missions.

So far only one company - SpaceX - collects and re-uses rocket boosters, all others are only used once.

Although the helicopter managed to capture the rocket booster during the test, the pilots decided to let it go and fall into the sea for safety reasons where it was later recovered by boat.

Peter Beck, boss of Rocket Lab, said: "Bringing a rocket back from space and catching it with a helicopter is something of a supersonic ballet."

"A tremendous number of factors have to align and many systems have to work together flawlessly, so I am incredibly proud of the stellar efforts of our recovery team and all of our engineers who made this mission and our first catch a success." he said.

What happened on the mission?

Rocket Lab's Electron blasts off

A rocket ship called Electron blasted off into space on Tuesday from a launch pad in the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.

Electron launched 34 satellites into orbit before releasing its booster - as this fell to Earth, a small parachute opened, helping it to slow down.

The team in the helicopter then caught the parachute using a big hook on a rope, a bit like fishing in the air!

Why did they drop the rocker booster?

Artwork: How a successful capture should look

The helicopter pilots dropped the booster as they noticed it had "different load characteristics" to when they had practised, meaning it wouldn't be safe for them to keep hold of it.

After splashing down and being collected by a boat the booster will now be assessed by a team of engineers to see if it can be used again on another mission.

The company named the mission "There And Back Again" - after the Hobbit movie, which was filmed in New Zealand.