LOS ANGELES, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- SpaceX completed its fifth test flight of its giant Starship rocket on Sunday, achieving the return of its booster back to the launch pad for the first time.
SpaceX launched Starship at about 8:25 a.m. Central Time (1325 GMT) from its Starbase facility near Brownsville, U.S. state of Texas.
The rocket's "Super Heavy" booster returned to land several minutes after launch. The company used the arms of its launch tower to catch the booster, a major milestone toward SpaceX's goal of making Starship a fully reusable rocket system.
Starship spacecraft separated from the booster and continued on to space, traveling halfway around the Earth before re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Indian Ocean as scheduled.
The flight test lasted about one hour and five minutes.
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket, collectively called Starship, represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.
The full Starship system had four test flights previously, with launches in April and November of last year, as well as in March and June this year.
SpaceX said it tries to build on "what we've learned from previous flights" in its approach to developing the massive rocket.
The fifth flight test aimed to take another step towards full and rapid reusability. The primary objectives were the first-ever return to the launch site and catch of the Super Heavy booster, along with an on-target splashdown of Starship in the Indian Ocean, according to SpaceX.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said both objectives were achieved during Starship's fifth flight test.
Starship will play a key role in NASA's Artemis program. It is the vehicle that NASA selected to carry astronauts on the final leg of their trip to the lunar surface during a mission called Artemis III, slated to lift off as soon as 2026.
"As we prepare to go back to the Moon under Artemis, continued testing will prepare us for the bold missions that lie ahead -- including to the South Pole region of the Moon and then on to Mars," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson wrote in a post on X. ■