The Rocket Lab helicopter collects and drops a rocket booster.

Rocket Lab USA Inc has successfully captured a falling rocket stage with a helicopter before dropping it into the ocean, indicating that the company’s new cost-cutting strategy is somewhat successful.

The demonstration on Monday, which included parachutes and a lengthy rope suspended from a helicopter, aimed to mark a critical milestone for the California-based business as it works to reduce the cost of delivering stuff into space, an industry trend pioneered by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Two pilots directed a helicopter holding a long, vertical rope from its underside over the booster, which had stretched a capture line to its side as it plummeted under a parachute at around 35km/h at high altitudes above the South Pacific, just off the New Zealand coast (22 mph).

As seen on the company’s live broadcast, the helicopter wire latched onto the booster’s catch line, prompting cheers and clapping from Rocket Lab engineers at the company’s mission control centre in Long Beach.

“Even though there was something wrong with the connection and they had to drop the booster,” she told Al Jazeera, “it is still a big milestone because this was done in their first attempt.”

Carrying the rocket booster back to shore or onto a barge without it touching the ocean would have been a fully successful test.

“It’s not a big deal,” Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said on Twitter. “The rocket landed successfully, and the ship is currently loading it.”