SpaceX has shared some breathtaking imagery from the most recent Starship flight, including a close-up of the 120-meter-tall rocket leaving the launchpad.
SpaceX’s third Starship test flight last Thursday was its best yet, far exceeding the first two missions, which took place last year and ended in huge fireballs just a few minutes in.
This time, the Starship — comprising the first-stage Super Heavy booster and upper-stage Starship spacecraft — kept on flying, with both parts reaching their destination points before breaking up on descent.
The largely successful mission involving the world’s most powerful rocket was a huge boost for the Starship project, with SpaceX aiming to use the vehicle for crew and cargo flights to the moon in the coming years. It could also be used for the first human flight to Mars, possibly in the 2030s, though there’s still much preparation work to be done before such an ambitious endeavor can be attempted.