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SpaceX’s Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, completed its most successful test flight yet on Thursday, returning to Earth without exploding.

This fourth test flight signifies a pivotal step toward SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s vision of creating a reusable rocket capable of transporting humans to Mars. Unlike the previous three attempts, which ended in explosions, this test marked significant progress. The most recent prior attempt in March came close to success, but the two earlier flights failed shortly after liftoff.

Before the flight, Musk emphasized that his primary goal was to endure the intense heat of re-entry. Live footage of the test showed parts of the rocket breaking away due to high temperatures. Still, Starship managed to splash down in the Indian Ocean in a controlled manner, remaining intact enough to transmit data.

The spacecraft reached an altitude of nearly 130 miles and traveled at speeds exceeding 16,000 miles per hour before its descent. SpaceX employees and NASA officials celebrated the successful landing. In a statement, Elon Musk said, “Despite loss of many tiles and a damaged flap, Starship made it all the way to a soft landing in the ocean!”

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson also praised the achievement, noting its significance for the Artemis III mission, which aims to return astronauts to the moon by late 2026. “We are another step closer to returning humanity to the Moon through #Artemis—then looking onward to Mars,” Nelson wrote.