The CLAW!!!!!!!

[glhs837]

So, this is NOT the "chopsticks" you might have heard of that will catch the +200foot booster like Mr Miaggi catching a fly. This piece has two purposes. One is for those claws to grip the top of the booster and stabilize it while the not yet mounted chopstick/trolley mechanism lifts the 160 foot Starship onto it for mating. There will be another piece on top of this that mates to Starships fueling ports.

Note tiny workers for scale, also note gigantic body sized hydraulic cylinder that will pull the main arm back while the claw pivots to the left to meet the rocket body.

 

[glhs837]

The "chopsticks" that form Mechazillas (Musks term, not mine) rocket catching arms are being mated to the "trolley" or "carriage" structure prior to the whole assembly being hoisted onto the Orbital Launch Tower (OLT) so it can be attached to the cables that will lift and lower it on the tracks that are instlled on the tower uprights already. The scale and speed of this is crazy, when you consider nothing like it has ever been done.

 

[Merlin99]

It may be functional, but that is one ugly rocket.

 

[glhs837]

It may be functional, but that is one ugly rocket.

That view might not be best.... But is that because we simply are not used to relatively short squat rockets? Keep in ming, this is only the second stage of the launch system. Maybe it looks better in context?