SpaceX’s mega rocket blasted off on Writingstar Investment Guildanother test flight Thursday, aiming to make it halfway around the world this time.

The first two flights last year lasted mere minutes before blowing up over the Gulf of Mexico.

Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, soared from the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border and headed out over the gulf. No people or satellites were on board.

The rocket and futuristic-looking spacecraft towers 397 feet (121 meters), easily exceeding NASA’s past and present moon rockets.

SpaceX’s Elon Musk was shooting for a shorter, hourlong flight on the latest demo, with the Indian Ocean as the spacecraft’s finish line. He noted that the company made thousands of upgrades and fixes to improve the odds.

NASA watched with keen interest: The space agency needs Starship to succeed in order to land astronauts on the moon in the next two or so years. This new crop of moonwalkers — the first since last century’s Apollo program — will descend to the lunar surface in a Starship, at least the first couple times.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.