Mr. Steven showed off his four spider-like arms earlier this week. And how he’s spun a web (sort of).

That strange-looking ship that looks like a giant upside-down arachnid off the San Pedro coastline is SpaceX’s nose-cone-catcher in training.

The SpaceX fairing catcher boat Mr Steven is doing it’s first day of sea trials off Pt Fermin in San Pedro after being fitted with new arms. The new arms support a much larger net to recover the fairings from SpaceX launches. Photo By Charles Bennett

The SpaceX fairing catcher boat Mr Steven returns from it’s first day of sea trials off Pt Fermin in San Pedro after being fitted with new arms. The new arms support a much larger net to recover the fairings from SpaceX launches. Photo By Charles Bennett July 12, 2018

Sound The gallery will resume in seconds

The SpaceX fairing catcher boat Mr Steven is doing it’s first day of sea trials off Pt Fermin in San Pedro after being fitted with new arms. The new arms support a much larger net to recover the fairings from SpaceX launches. Photo By Charles Bennett

The SpaceX fairing catcher boat Mr Steven returns from it’s first day of sea trials off Pt Fermin in San Pedro after being fitted with new arms. The new arms support a much larger net to recover the fairings from SpaceX launches. Photo By Charles Bennett July 12, 2018

The SpaceX fairing catcher boat Mr Steven is doing it’s first day of sea trials off Pt Fermin in San Pedro after being fitted with new arms. The new arms support a much larger net to recover the fairings from SpaceX launches. Photo By Charles Bennett



The SpaceX fairing catcher boat Mr Steven is doing it’s first day of sea trials off Pt Fermin in San Pedro after being fitted with new arms. The new arms support a much larger net to recover the fairings from SpaceX launches. Photo By Charles Bennett

The SpaceX fairing catcher boat Mr Steven returns from it’s first day of sea trials off Pt Fermin in San Pedro after being fitted with new arms. The new arms support a much larger net to recover the fairings from SpaceX launches. Photo By Charles Bennett July 12, 2018

The SpaceX fairing catcher boat Mr Steven is doing it’s first day of sea trials off Pt Fermin in San Pedro after being fitted with new arms. The new arms support a much larger net to recover the fairings from SpaceX launches. Photo By Charles Bennett

The SpaceX fairing catcher boat Mr Steven is doing it’s first day of sea trials off Pt Fermin in San Pedro after being fitted with new arms. The new arms support a much larger net to recover the fairings from SpaceX launches. Photo By Charles Bennett

The SpaceX fairing catcher boat Mr Steven is doing it’s first day of sea trials off Pt Fermin in San Pedro after being fitted with new arms. The new arms support a much larger net to recover the fairings from SpaceX launches. Photo By Charles Bennett



The SpaceX fairing catcher boat Mr Steven returns from it’s first day of sea trials off Pt Fermin in San Pedro after being fitted with new arms. The new arms support a much larger net to recover the fairings from SpaceX launches. Photo By Charles Bennett July 12, 2018

The SpaceX fairing catcher boat Mr Steven is doing it’s first day of sea trials off Pt Fermin in San Pedro after being fitted with new arms. The new arms support a much larger net to recover the fairings from SpaceX launches. Photo By Charles Bennett

The SpaceX fairing catcher boat Mr Steven returns from it’s first day of sea trials off Pt Fermin in San Pedro after being fitted with new arms. The new arms support a much larger net to recover the fairings from SpaceX launches. Photo By Charles Bennett July 12, 2018

The ship, created by Elon Musk and his team of rocket-builders (and retrievers) at Hawthorne-based SpaceX, was seen Thursday with a net held aloft by his new articulated arms. So now, he’s evolved from giant seagoing claw to giant catcher’s mitt.

The ship is designed to extend a net capable of catching SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket nose-cones, or fairings, as they are guided back toward earth after launches.

By reusing the fairings, the private commercial rocketbuilder can save big-time. Each module is worth an estimated $6 million,

Mr. Steven was unsuccessful in its attempt in May with SpaceX founder and CEO Musk tweeting shortly after the company would be “extending the net area by a factor of 4.”

A representative for SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment earlier this week.

Musk also owns The Boring Company, which aims to dig transit tunnels under Los Angeles’ freeway gridlock (and had secured a deal to do the same thing Chicago) and electric-car pioneer Tesla, which operates a design center in Hawthorne.

Also this month, Musk’s team devised a mini-submarine, aiming to save the cave-stranded soccer team in Thailand. The sub inevitably wasn’t used, but Musk got the test-drive the craft and was on-hand live for the divers’ daring rescue.