Oct 13 (Reuters) - SpaceX in its fifth Starship test flight on Sunday returned the rocket's towering first stage booster back to its Texas launch pad for the first time using giant mechanical arms, achieving another novel engineering feat in the company's push to build a reusable moon and Mars vehicle.

The success is a giant leap toward the company's goal to take humans and cargo all the way to Mars on the world's biggest and most powerful launch vehicle

The risky maneuver is a step toward SpaceX’s goal of full reusability for Starship, which is the world’s most powerful rocket, and is key to NASA’s plans to return to the moon.

The company completed a successful test flight of the most powerful rocket ever built. Some residents near the Texas site experienced shaking as the landing vehicle was caught by mechanical arms.

The space startup’s booster landing helped pave the way for Starship coming to market.

SpaceX stunned the world during its Starship rocket test over the weekend, catching its booster in midair after it came back from space and landing the rest of the rocket in the ocean after a plunge through Earth’s atmosphere.

SpaceX completed an amazing first on Sunday, plucking the lower half of its huge Starship launch system out of midair, as euphoric SpaceX employees watched from the control center. But why does SpaceX have to catch it anyway?