May 7, Kathmandu- Step by step, the SpaceX company is progressing the development of its novel Starship rocket.

The latest prototype, Serial Number 15 (SN15), has just completed a successful high-altitude ascent and landing.

The four previous test artefacts all ran into trouble as they went through their touchdown manoeuvres, ultimately destroying themselves in the process.

But SN15 had no such difficulty, making a tidy, controlled return to the ground at SpaceX's R&D facility in Texas.

A small fire licked around the base of the vehicle on touchdown but was soon extinguished.

There's considerable interest in the Starship concept now that the American space agency (Nasa) has chosen it to land astronauts on the Moon later this decade.