Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, was able to launch and successfully land the Starship SN15 rocket on May 5, 2021 heralding a new era in space exploration for NASA.
- The SN15 (“Serial No. 15”) was lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase test site, near the South Texas village of Boca Chica, on May 5, 2021.
- The four previous prototypes of Starship had failed to do so, hence it is respite for NASA and SpaceX.
- SpaceX Starship is a spacecraft and super-heavy booster rocket by meant to act as a reusable transportation system for crew and cargo to the Earth’s orbit, Moon and Mars.
- According to SpaceX, reusability is at the heart of making interplanetary travel accessible, since a majority of the launch cost is attributed to the expense of building a rocket that is ultimately designed to burn up during re-entry.
- The Starship system consists of two elements, both of which are designed to be fully and rapidly reusable: a spacecraft called Starship and a giant first-stage booster named Super Heavy.
