SpaceX achieved the first successful touchdown of its latest prototype Starship rocket during the latest test flight of the next-generation launch vehicle in the south Texas on Wednesday, after four previous landing attempts ended up in explosions.
The feat has marked a milestone in the private rocket company of billionaire tech expert Elon Musk in its construction of a heavy-duty re-launch car to eventually carry the astronauts and large cargo loads on the moon and Mars.
The Starship SN15 exploded at the SpaceX launch site in Boca Chica, Texas, near the Gulf Coast and reached its planned 10-kilometer (6-mile) altitude, then flew for a while before taking off under aerodynamic control and returning to Earth.
Walking back to the bottom of the rocket as it approached the ground, a 16-story, three-engine car came down and touched it a little.
"We're down, Starship has arrived," SpaceX chief engineer John Insprucker said in a comment on the flight.
A video feed of the landing showed that flames continued to burn down the rocket after the engines were disconnected, but the automatic firefighting system trained a steady flow of water on the landing pad, eventually extinguishing the fire.
The plane landed at the 60th anniversary of the first space star made by an American astronaut - the launch of Alan Shepard in a 15-minute submarine over NASA's Mercury-Redstone rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Musk announced the success on Twitter, sending a strong message in a text message: "Starship comes in a small name!"
Four pre-test Starship prototypes - SN8 in December, SN9 in February and SN10 and SN11 in March - all exploded successfully but were blown away.
The complete Starship rocket, which will stand 394 meters (120 meters) high when combined with its heavy booster on the first stage, is a car to launch the next generation of SpaceX at the heart of Musk's ambitions to make the human space easier and more natural.
The first Orbital Starship flight is scheduled for the end of the year. Musk said he intended to fly Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa around the moon and Starship by 2023.
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