SpaceX's Starship megarocket roared into the skies Tuesday on its tenth test flight, turning in a strong performance after a series of fiery failures had begun to cast doubt on its future.

Towering 403 feet (123 meters), Starship is the most powerful launch vehicle ever built and key to founder Elon Musk's vision of carrying humanity to Mars, as well as NASA's plans to return astronauts to the Moon.

The stainless steel colossus blasted off from the company's Starbase in southern Texas at 6:30 pm local time (2330 GMT), greeted by loud cheers from engineering teams, as seen in a live webcast.

A few minutes into launch, the first-stage booster known as Super Heavy splashed down into the Gulf of Mexico, triggering a sonic boom on its way. Unlike other recent tests, SpaceX opted not to attem

See Full Page