In successful test, SpaceX’s Mars rocket prototype flies 45 seconds, lands upright
SpaceX launched a prototype of its Mars rocketship a huge selection of feet in to the air, then landed it upright in a successful test flight.
The flight lasted barely 45 seconds and reached just 500 feet (150 meters) Tuesday night at the southeastern tip of Texas near Brownsville, but was an important first for SpaceX’s Starship. Some earlier tests ended in explosions on the pad.
“Mars is looking real,” SpaceX founder and leader Elon Musk tweeted after the short hop. “Progress is accelerating.”
Musk said several more short hops are planned before a test version of Starship aims for a high altitude. The most recent test model is relatively plain: It stands a full-scale 100 feet (30 meters) tall and resembles a steel silo _ or stretched-out can _ with a cap at the top.
The private company plans to launch reusable Starships atop still-in-the-works rockets, carrying cargo or crew not only to low-Earth orbit but also the Moon and Musk’s most desirable destination, Mars. The complete stack will stretch almost 400 feet (120 meters).
On Sunday, SpaceX safely returned two NASA astronauts from the International Space Station carrying out a two-month test flight. Their Dragon capsule splashed down in the Gulf coast of florida off the coast of Pensacola, Florida.
SpaceX is currently the only private company to fly persons to and from orbit.
“We’re going to go to the Moon. We’re likely to have a base on the Moon. We’re going to send people to Mars and make life multi-planetary,” Musk said following splashdown. “Today heralds a fresh age of space exploration. That’s what it’s about.”
