Step by step, SpaceX is making progress in building the new Starship rocket.
The latest prototype of the aircraft under serial number 15 (SN15) successfully completed a test takeoff to a high altitude, and then successfully landed.
During the previous four tests, the aircraft encountered problems due to the landing maneuver during which they were destroyed.
However, prototype number 15 made a smooth, calm and controlled landing at the SpaceX Research and Development Center in Texas.
A small flame broke out on the base of the aircraft during landing, but was soon extinguished.
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Interest in the Starship project became high when the American space agency (NASA) announced that it plans to send astronauts to the moon by the end of this decade using that rocket.
A trip to the moon will be just one of the missions in which the Starship will be used.
The aircraft is expected to replace the Falcon rocket that the company currently uses.
These two rockets are used in standard manned and unmanned missions performed by NASA, as well as for satellite launches by the US military or private companies.
Elon Musk, the owner and director of SpaceX, believes that the 50-meter-long Starship can be used more and better outside our planet.
He believes that thanks to this technology, we will be able to travel to Mars.
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Yesterday's test went much like previous test launches.
The unmanned aircraft took off from the Boka Ćika center and rose vertically with the power of three methane-powered Reptor engines.
The engines shut down when the Starship reached the desired altitude of 10 kilometers to bring the rocket into a horizontal position and prepare to return to the ground.
This landing mode, controlled by wings on either side of the spacecraft, was intended to demonstrate how the Starship would reenter Earth's atmosphere from orbit, reducing speed by turning more of the rocket's surface toward the ground.
Immediately before landing, the starship returns to its take-off position.
Prototypes under serial numbers 8, 9, 10 and 11 failed to complete this process and were destroyed during landing or immediately before and after that moment.
SN15 rotated perfectly and landed softly using the landing legs.
SpaceX has more prototypes in various stages of development. As engineers gain new knowledge about building and operating aircraft, the company improves the design and makes other changes to them.
The final version of the Starship is planned to take off from a Super Heavy rocket launcher.
The rocket will contain 28 Raptor engines that will produce more than 70 meganewtons of thrust - almost double that of the Apollo Saturn 5 rocket that flew to the moon.
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