SpaceX Successfully Lands Starship Prototype

SpaceX on Wednesday launched another test flight of an early Mars rocket prototype at its South Texas facility, sending the vehicle soaring up to about six miles above Earth, then putting it through a series of aerial acrobatics before re-lighting its engines and landing it upright back on a landing pad, CNN reports.

The vehicle, called SN15, was the fifth of SpaceX’s rocket prototypes to attempt such a landing and the first to do so successfully.

Wednesday’s successful test comes after four previous prototypes attempted to safely land after soaring a few miles into the air, with all of the prior missions ending in explosions.