Elon Musk’s space company, SpaceX, launched their giant Starship rocket again on Thursday! This was the third time they’d tried it, and it was a big step forward for their moon mission plans.
The launch happened from their test site in Texas on the anniversary of when SpaceX first started. This time, the Starship rocket went way higher and faster than ever before, even reaching space for the first time! It also managed to come back into Earth’s atmosphere, which is another important part of the mission.
Even though things weren’t perfect – the rocket didn’t quite land smoothly in the ocean at the end – SpaceX is still happy with the launch. They learned a lot and were able to test important systems needed to fly people to the moon someday. They even decided to skip using one of the rocket’s powerful engines this time so they could focus on other things.
This giant rocket, nicknamed “Starship,” is super important for NASA’s plan to get humans back on the moon. Even though it didn’t land perfectly this time, the launch helped test the parts they need to make that moon mission happen. In fact, NASA even picked Starship to fly astronauts on a mission called Artemis III, which could happen as early as 2026! This is a big deal for space travel, and it all started with this recent launch.