SpaceX launches and lands a starship prototype

What's happening: The Starship prototype, named SN15, was an upgraded version of earlier Starships launched by the Elon Musk-founded company.

• Those earlier launches ended in failures of some kind or another, including exploding during descent, exploding on impact with the ground and exploding after a hard landing.
• But Wednesday's test was a success, with Musk tweeting, "Starship landing nominal!"

The intrigue: SpaceX just received a contract from NASA to continue to fly astronauts to the surface of the Moon using Starship.

• That contract is expected to be a boon for its development program and could bring the rocket and spacecraft under more scrutiny from the space agency.