SpaceX's Mars Starship prototype soars on test flight

<p class="p1">A prototype of SpaceX's Mars Starship spacecraft got off the ground in a test flight, marking a small step that could one day prove to be a giant leap towards the human exploration of the Red Planet.</p>
<p class="p1">The vehicle, Starship SN5, performed a small hop as it took to the skies for about 40 seconds Tuesday, Space.com reported.</p>
<p class="p1">"Mars is looking real," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted shortly after the test flight.</p>
<p class="p1">Starship is SpaceX's ambitious spacecraft to take humans to the Red Planet. The company has been working on prototypes to find the right design that will work for transport.</p>
<p class="p1">Several of Starship SN5's predecessors got destroyed during test flights.</p>
<p class="p1">After SN5 performed the small hop, Musk said, "We'll do several short hops to smooth out launch process, then go high altitude with body flaps."</p>
<p class="p1">Last year, such a flight was performed by an earlier Starship prototype dubbed "Starhopper".</p>
<p class="p1">SpaceX says its Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket (collectively referred to as Starship) represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.</p>
<p class="p1">The company has been rapidly iterating on the design of Starship with orbital-flight targeted for 2020.</p>
<p class="p1">The previous iteration of the Starship prototype, SN4, exploded right after a static fire test in May this year.</p>.