SpaceX successfully launches its newest and biggest rocket SN15 in fifth attempt
The test flight of the Starship SN15 prototype was conducted on Wednesday at about 5:24 PM local time from SpaceX's seaside launch pad in Boca Chica.
Elon Musk's SpaceX has finally successfully launched its newest and biggest rocket on Wednesday after four previous attempts ended up in explosions. The test flight of the Starship SN-15 prototype was conducted on Wednesday at about 5:24 PM local time from SpaceX's seaside launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas.
The early, three-engine version of a rocket that Elon Musk, SpaceX head honcho, hopes will eventually take humans to Mars.
The rocket flew to an altitude of about 6.2 miles (10 kilometers), did a brief single-engine hover before flipping horizontal for its long coast towards the landing pad.
"Starship landing nominal!" tweeted founder Elon Musk, expressing the milestone achievement for the company that wishes to carry crew inside the Starship rocket for missions on Mars.
This time too the landing was again marred by a small fire at the bottom of the vehicle, but it was extinguished within minutes with water cannons. A video feed of the landing showed flames continuing to burn at the base of the rocket after the engines cut off.
However, an automated fire suppression system trained a steady stream of water onto the landing pad, eventually extinguishing the blaze.
Four previous test flights of Starship prototypes - SN8 in December, SN9 in February, and SN10 and SN11 in March all blasted off successfully but blew to pieces.
The complete Starship rocket, which will stand 120 metres (394 feet) tall when mated with its super-heavy first-stage booster, is SpaceX’s next-generation launch vehicle at the centre of Musk’s ambitions to make human space travel more affordable and routine.