SpaceX has managed to successfully launch and land Starship for the first time.
According to BBC News, Elon Musk's space exploration company launched the prototype rocket, Serial Number 15, in a test flight conducted at Cape Canaveral in Florida, on Wednesday, May 6.
The uncrewed craft left its launch mount at the Boca Chica facility and rose vertically with the combined thrust of three methane-burning Raptor engines.
It's the first time a Starship rocket test flight conducted by SpaceX was successful, having endured four failed attempts beforehand.
Take a look at this footage of the launch in the video below:All power units then shut down in sequence as the rocket reached its target height of roughly 10km, (approximately six and a half miles) before returning to land.
There was a small fire at the base of the craft upon its landing, which was quickly extinguished by on-site personnel.
The 49-year-old Tesla CEO confirmed the success of the test in a tweet made to his 52.9 million followers on Twitter, writing simply: "Starship landing nominal!"
Musk intends on using the same model of spacecraft to land astronauts on Mars one day in the future, as part of the billionaire's plans for extraterrestrial colonization.
Per BBC News, NASA has chosen the Starship design to transport a fresh batch of astronauts to the lunar surface sometime in the coming decade, and also to deploy satellite deployments for the US military and other commercial operators.
The BBC reports that all four of the previous Starship rocket test flights for SN8, SN9, SN10, and SN11, ended in failure.
Each one exploded before, during, or soon after touching down at their landing point at the southeastern tip of Texas, near Brownsville.
SpaceX later tweeted this video of the landing:Commenting on the design in a NASA press conference held on Friday, April 23, Musk acknowledged the difficulty inherent in the new design.
Per Business Insider, Musk stated: "Obviously we need to, like, not be making craters. We've got some work to do, but we're making rapid progress.
"It's a tough vehicle because we're trying to crack this nut of a fully and rapidly reusable rocket. Somebody's got to do this. And if you have rapid and complete reusability, then that is the gateway to the heavens."