Here’s one giant leap for rocket science: SpaceX, the commercial
spaceflight company led by Elon Musk, this week published a
video of the latest successful test flight of its reusable
rocket concept, called “Grasshopper,” which blasted up to a
record 12 stories high (about 130 feet) before landing
vertically under its own power back on the launch pad. The new
record-high flight, which took place at SpaceX’s test facility
in McGregor, Texas, comes a month after the SpaceX Grasshopper
rocket reached a then-record height of just 2 stories (17.7
feet) before successfully returning to a vertical landing from
the launch pad. Prior to that, SpaceX first tested the rocket
with a tiny 6 foot-high test hop. The Grasshopper rocket itself
is huge at 10 stories high, as SpaceX previously revealed. But
the new test-hop saw the rocket eclipse even its own height by 2
stories. A SpaceX spokesperson confirmed to TPM that the company
achieved all of its goals for the latest test of Grasshopper,
but declined to specify when the