SPACEX ROCKET PROTOTYPE ACHIEVES FIRST SAFE LANDING

BOCA CHICA, TEXAS: Spacex achieved the first successful touchdown of its prototype Starship rocket during the latest test flight of the next-generation launch vehicle in south Texas on Wednesday, after four previous landing attempts ended in explosions.

The feat marked a key milestone for the private rocket company of billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk in its development of a resusable heavy-lift launch vehicle to eventually carry astronauts and large cargo payloads to the moon and Mars.

Meanwhile, remnants of a large Chinese rocket launched last week are expected to plunge back through the atmosphere this weekend in an uncontrolled re-entry being tracked by US Space Command, the US military said on Wednesday.

The prototype rocket’s exact point of descent into Earth’s atmosphere as it falls back from space “cannot be pinpointed, it said.