SpaceX bombshell: Elon Musk's landmark Mars rocket Starhopper in dramatic debut launch

After a number of false starts the rocket, dubbed “Starhopper”, blasted 150 meters into the air above the Gulf coast on Tuesday. The single-engine version of the SpaceX Starship was air bound for almost a minute. It returned back to earth with a soft landing at the coastal site in Texas.

The rocket’s flight was live streamed by SpaceX and could be seen propelling itself eastwards onto an adjacent landing platform.

Mr Musk shared in the celebrations by tweeting his company’s success.

He said: “Congrats SpaceX team!!”

Starhopper is the first prototype for a next-generation spacecraft.

Mr Musk plans to use this to send people around the moon and even to Mars within the next decade.

Starhopper’s first attempt at a long hop was aborted at the last second on Monday.

A wiring issue with the engine halted the countdown just seconds before its ignition.

The initial test had already been pushed back from earlier in August.

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While this is the last test for this particular prototype, it has paved the way for more aggressive testing of the space vehicle’s design.

SpaceX has been testing a new engine called Raptor on these flights and the company plans to use them to power Starship.

SpaceX is developing Starship to send people and cargo to space destinations like the Moon and Mars

While Starhopper had only been flying with one Raptor engine, the final product will have multiple.

The Super Heavy booster that launches the rocket will have as many as 31.

Spacehopper is built to be fully reusable so the rocket will be able to launch, land and then launch again repeatedly.

Mr Musk has previously shared his plans to use the super heavy launcher to help setup on Mars, send artists on a trip around the moon and to even provide transcontinental flights on Earth via orbit.

SpaceX has another test site in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Mr Musk suggested both teams are in a friendly race to reach space first.

He tweeted: “A success by both in close proximity would be amazing & each would count as a win.”

source: express.co.uk