Near Zero Shock Bolt Catcher Assembly

A bolt catcher and extractor for use with a separation nut and an attaching preloaded bolt that secure a payload to a launch vehicle or spacecraft. The bolt catcher extracts the attaching bolt from the separation nut, pulls it clear of the interface between the launch vehicle or spacecraft and the released payload, and captures it within the bolt catcher housing. The released bolt may have kinetic energy due to the strain energy stored by the pre-release bolt preload. The bolt catcher may have a magnetic eddy current damper that controls the bolt velocity during bolt extraction and dissipates the bolt kinetic energy as heat. The bolt may be magnetically non-impact captured within the bolt catcher. Bolt momentum at the end of the bolt extraction is less than 2% of that of bolt catchers of the prior art. Shock to the released payload or deployable equipment is near zero.