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SpaceX flies Starship rocket; it crash lands on launch pad By Paul Brinkmann  ( 0 ) SpaceX's Starship lifts off on a test flight from Texas on Wednesday afternoon. Photo courtesy of SpaceX Dec. 9 (UPI) --   SpaceX  sent its new-generation Starship rocket into the Texas sky just before sunset Wednesday and and saw it crash-land in a massive fireball on its launch pad. The test flight was the first high-altitude attempt for the vehicle, which lifted off at 5:45 pm. EST from the company's launch and development site in Boca Chica, about 180 miles south of Corpus Christi. ADVERTISEMENT Elon Musk 's company offered no commentary or reaction to the flight, which included the possible loss of one of three Raptor engines. But the rocket appeared to reach the intended altitude -- nearly 8 miles high. That model rocket, eyed as a transport vehicle to the moon and possibly Mars, also performed a flip maneuver mid-flight that the space company had planned. RELATED   SpaceX abort...

  SpaceX plans uncrewed Mars mission within two years Shane McGlaun  -  Dec 2, 2020, 5:02am CST 0 SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gave an interview this week, where he talked about several different topics. One of the big topics he talked about was his company’s ambition for putting humans back on Mars. Musk mentioned that the company’s big shiny spacecraft known as Starship would have a high-altitude test later this week. During the interview, he also mentioned that he expects  humans to land  on Mars in around six years, noting that he was “fairly confident” in that timeframe. Earth and Mars are most synchronized in orbit every 26 months. He said that SpaceX would do an uncrewed launch and landing on Mars at the next synchronization opportunity in about two years if all goes well. Humans could first land on Mars in the next synchronization four years after the uncrewed landing. Musk also noted that his own trip into orbit would happen in 2 to 3 years. One of his key goal...