--- title: "SpaceX Just Landed Starship Without It Exploding" description: "SpaceX has finally launched its latest full-scale prototype of its Mars-bound Starship rocket — and this time it stuck the landing. " date: "2021-05-05" modified: "2021-05-05" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/spacex-landed-starship-without-exploding" categories: - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" tags: - "elon musk" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" --- # SpaceX Just Landed Starship Without It Exploding ![SpaceX has finally launched its latest full-scale prototype of its Mars-bound Starship rocket — and this time it stuck the landing. ]() *\Image: SpaceX\* SpaceX has finally launched its latest full-scale prototype of its Mars-bound [Starship]() rocket — and this time, for the first time, it stuck the landing. The 165-foot stainless steel spacecraft, dubbed SN15, launched from the space company's test facilities in South Texas Wednesday evening at 5:25 pm local time. It climbed to ten kilometers, first obscured inside a cloud, then reemerging above it. It then started its descent horizontally after turning its engines off, before relighting them to turn itself upright again. https://youtu.be/z9eoubnO-pE Then SN15 softly landed on the landing pad below. Several minutes of tense waiting followed. Flames could be seen coming from the bottom skirt of the prototype after landing, causing remotely controlled water hoses to attempt to put out the fire for several minutes — long after SpaceX concluded its official webcast of the event. https://twitter.com/dctrjack/status/1390073346235064321 But it didn't explode — unlike SN10, which landed on March 3, [but blew up several minutes later](). "Starship landing nominal!" SpaceX CEO Elon Musk [tweeted]() after the fire was put out. It's a colossal achievement for the Elon Musk-led company, proving that Starship is capable of launching — and landing — without blowing itself to pieces. SN15 is the fifth full-scale prototype to take to the skies. All four prototypes preceding it have met an early demise, [exploding]() in huge balls of fire. The prototype featured "hundreds of design improvements across structures, avionics/software and engine," [according to Musk](). The prototype's predecessor SN11 [exploded on March 30]() inside a massive wall of fog due to a methane leak. Now, SpaceX can focus on getting Starship into orbit, boosted by a second gigantic rocket called Super Heavy. **More on Starship:** *[Cops Clear Beach in Preparation for Starship Launch]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()