The March/April issue of Analog contained a novelette by C. Stuart Hardwick called "Reaction Time," about using some kind of craft to catch a rocket if it aborted.
Turns out that New Zealand is trying something similar for booster retrieval...specifically the booster blows a chute and then is caught by a helicopter.
Unfortunately, they haven't got it to work yet. Catching worked. Holding, on the other hand...apparently they need either a lighter booster or a more powerful helicopter. (Note this is pretty small rockets, of course, and the catching part is the hard part).
I wish them luck solving the issues!
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