SpaceX successfully launches — and lands — Starship prototype in milestone test flight

SpaceX launched its latest Starship prototype Wednesday evening, sending the methane-fueled rocket up to an altitude of about 6 miles. The craft then flipped over on its side in a now-familiar "belly-flop" maneuver and plunged back to Earth, righting itself and restarting its engines to stick an on-target touchdown.

The previous four test flights of a Starship prototype were only partially successful, all of them ending with spectacular explosions, either before, during or just after touchdown. But the current prototype, known as SN15, appeared to pull off its first flight in fine fashion, a welcome milestone for SpaceX and for NASA, which is counting on a future variant of the rocket to carry astronauts to and from the surface of the moon in the agency's Artemis program.