SpaceX’s has launched it’s next-generation Starship, SN5 rocket which passed its most critical test yet, taking off and landing in a short flight at the company’s facility in Texas.
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Starship prototype Serial Number 5, standing at about 100 feet tall, launched gradually and rose to about 500 feet above the ground before returning back to land on a concrete area near the launchpad.
SpaceX has a fleet of rockets that it uses to launch satellites and astronauts, anchored by its Falcon 9 series that has launched 87 times and landed its booster after 48 of those launches.
But Starship represents the company’s aim to make obsolete even the cost-saving advances of its Falcon 9 rockets.
While Falcon 9 rockets are partially reusable, Musk’s goal is to make Starship fully reusable envisioning a rocket that is more akin to a commercial airplane, with short turnaround times between flights where the only major cost is fuel.
