SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft successfully lands on water for the first time

The Starship spacecraft, intended for future trips to the Moon and Mars, succeeded for the first time in landing on Thursday June 6 in the Indian Ocean, SpaceX said after a test flight that lasted about an hour. “Ditching confirmed!” wrote the company of billionaire Elon Musk on the social network

Takeoff of this fourth Starship test flight took place at 7:50 a.m. (2:50 p.m. Paris time) from SpaceX’s Starbase space base in Boca Chica, Texas (United States). One of the main objectives of the flight was to achieve a more controlled return to the Earth’s atmosphere than during the three previous tests, which ended with explosions.

Starship must in particular ultimately be used to transport NASA astronauts to the Moon, for the first time since 1972. The American federal agency, which closely follows the development of the spacecraft, welcomed this flight. “We have taken another step towards returning humanity to the Moon”reacted Bill Nelson, head of NASA, on.