SpaceX successfully lands Starship SN15 rocket at Texas base on 5th attempt

SpaceX on May 6, Wednesday successfully conducted the landing of its Starship SN15 on its landing pad in South Texas, near the Gulf Coast hamlet of Boca Chica Village. This comes as a momentous achievement for the Elon Musk-led company which had failed on four different occasions before this with several test flights exploding during or after the landing. After Starship SN15 managed a successful touchdown on its fifth attempt, Elon Musk took to Twitter to share the update saying, 'Starship landing nominal.' 

In test-flights which began from December 2020, SpaceX's Starship had managed to launch successfully but failed every landing with belly-flops towards the ground and massive explosions. During May 6's test, the spacecraft traveled to an altitude of 6 miles in 4 minutes and then powered down its engine to safely begin its trip back to Earth. 

However, what came to everyone's notice was that even as it touched down normally flipping itself back into a vertical orientation, flames continued to vent from its sides. According to SpaceX engineer John Insprucker, this was a result of the fuel used by the rocket.

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Starship and Mission Mars

The American private space flight company is looking to start building a permanent human settlement and colonize Mars ferrying people through its Starship rocket. Addressing the International Mars Society Convention in October 2020, Elon Musk said that there was a chance of making the first trip to Mars in 2024.

To build an 'independent and self-sustaining city' on the red planet, Musk plans to make 1000 Starships that can take enough people and cargo to the planet Mars. Interplanetary travel according to him will come in handy in case Earth is left uninhabitable by a nuclear war or an asteroid strike.