Success! SpaceX lands Mars rocket prototype for the first time

SpaceX just launched another test flight of an early Mars rocket prototype at its South Texas facility, sending the towering silver vehicle soaring up to about six miles above Earth, then putting it through a series of aerial acrobatics before re-lighting two of its engines and landing it upright back on a landing pad.

The vehicle, called SN15, was the fifth of SpaceX's rocket prototypes to attempt such a landing and the first to do so successfully. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed the successful landing on Twitter:

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