spacetoday.net: Starship completes suborbital test flight

Posted: Sat, May 8, 2021, 11:28 AM ET (1528 GMT)
Starship SN15 launch (SpaceX)

A SpaceX Starship prototype successfully completed a short test flight Wednesday. The Starship SN15 vehicle took off from the company's Boca Chica, Texas, test site at 6:24 pm EDT (2224 GMT), flying to an altitude of 10 kilometers before landing six minutes later. This vehicle survived the landing, unlike four previous prototypes that were destroyed during or shortly after landing. SN15 included what SpaceX called "multiple upgrades and improvements" to address problems found on previous test flights as well as to prepare for future orbital missions. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk acknowledged last month that Starship has been "a tough vehicle to build" as the company tries to create a vehicle that is fully and rapidly reusable.