The private spaceflight company's latest Starship prototype aced a high-altitude test flight today (May 5), checking every box from takeoff to touchdown for the first time.

"We are down! The Starship has landed," John Insprucker, SpaceX's principal integration engineer, said during live commentary.

Today's uncrewed test came on the 60th anniversary of the United States' first-ever crewed spaceflight, the suborbital jaunt of NASA astronaut Alan Shepard. The historical parallel is coincidental but appropriate, for SN15's success marks a big step forward in SpaceX's plans to help extend humanity's footprint out into the final frontier.

The stainless-steel SN15 ("Serial No. 15") lifted off from SpaceX's Starbase test site, near the South Texas village of Boca Chica, today at 6:24 p.m. EST (2224 GMT). The vehicle soared about 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) into the sky, performed a number of maneuvers and came back down for a safe touchdown at its designated concrete landing pad six minutes after takeoff.

Rocket Assembly Animation