Rocket Lab just caught a falling booster with a helicopter. Here's how it all played out

New Zealand aerospace startup Rocket Lab caught a falling rocket booster with a helicopter.

Rocket Lab is the first company since SpaceX to put an honest effort into recovering their booster.

The company's Electron rocket was carrying a payload of 34 small small SAT 's.

It's important to keep in mind that Electron is a relatively light rocket, the faring diameter is only 1.2 meters .

Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck is ecstatic about the results of his first real world recovery test.

Rocket Lab is able to manufacture the carbon fiber body of the Electron in just 12 hours thanks to an automated process that they nicknamed Rosie the Robot .

Beck says that the company will return the booster to their factory where it will be stripped down, inspected, tested and then refurbished.

Rocket Lab's Electron will be sending NASA 's Cube Sat , named Capstone , to orbit around the moon later this month .

Rocket Lab loses about 10% of payload capacity on the Electron in its reusable configuration.

Night launches will be a big limiting factor because the helicopter can't see the booster or launches that require the rocket's full capability.