SpaceX test-launched an early prototype of the company's Mars rocket on Tuesday, unnerving residents near the Texas site and clearing another key hurdle in billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's interplanetary ambitions.
After the launch, Musk congratulated engineers from SpaceX, short for Space Exploration Technologies Corp., and posted a photo of Starhopper touching down on its landing pad with billowing clouds of dust and sand rising from the ground.
"One day Starship will land on the rusty sands of Mars," Musk tweeted.