Elon Musk’s company SpaceX has launched and successfully landed its futuristic Starship after four failed attempts, writes ABC NET.

The successful test flight of the SN15 prototype is a major step in the program that Mr Musk intends to use to land astronauts on the moon and send people to Mars.

Similar test flights of the Starship SN9 and SN10 in February and early March ended with fiery explosions, one during the rocket’s final descent and another shortly after a successful touchdown in a vertical position.

This latest upgraded version of SpaceX’s full-scale, stainless steel, bullet-shaped rocket soared more than 10 kilometres over the Gulf of Mexico before flipping and descending horizontally.

It then returned to a vertical position just in time for touchdown.

A fire at the base of the 50-metre rocket was quickly extinguished, and the rocket remained standing after the six-minute flight.

Mr Musk tweeted the landing was “nominal”, or successful.