[imagesource: SpaceX]

There’s definitely a great deal hinging on Elon Musk’s SpaceX ventures since he won NASA’s contract to take people to the moon.

Show us the rocket(s), man!

Finally, after 15 tries with previous rockets that had problems, SpaceX’s Starship SN15 successfully completed its high-altitude flight test in Boca Chica, Texas, on Wednesday afternoon.

The most essential part was the landing, though, which SN15 managed fairly well and without destroying itself in the process, like the poor rockets that came before – prototypes SN8, SN9, and SN10 all had the tiny problem of exploding.

It took a while, but space travel is rocket science, after all.

The only issue might have come from the small fire that licked around the base of the vehicle on touchdown but it was soon extinguished, and Musk doesn’t seem to have minded much.

What would all this be, if there wasn’t a tweet from Musk?

Starship landing nominal!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2021

Per BBC, Starship is expected to replace the company’s Falcon rockets, which are currently used by NASA and the US military for various important missions.

Although, Elon Musk wants the new 50 metre-tall Starship to do way more than these little local missions.

Ultimately, the technology will be better, faster, stronger and get people to Mars:

Operational Starships will eventually launch atop a booster called Super Heavy.

This will feature perhaps 28 Raptors, producing more than 70 meganewtons (16 million lbs) of thrust – about double that of the mighty Apollo Saturn 5 rocket, which sent men to the Moon.

Here’s a nifty illustration for your reference:

Image: BBC

The video of the takeoff and landing, with the latter taking place from around the 5:55 mark:

Mars, we’re coming for you!

[sources:bbc&mashable]