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SpaceX achieved the first soft landing of its Starship spacecraft after a highly anticipated test flight on Thursday, in a major milestone for the project.
SpaceX engineers endured a nervous wait as remotely operated water hoses fought a three-storey tall methane blaze that licked up the side of the stainless steel spacecraft after it touched down on its landing legs at the company’s centre in Boca Chica, Texas.
Elon Musk, the company’s founder, told his Twitter followers that the landing was “nominal”, which is space talk for normal or acceptable.
The ambitious flight test programme has captivated space enthusiasts and scientists around the world, with tens of thousands of people tuning in to live streams covering the build-up to the flight.