NASA researchers are looking at the possibility of using a wingless, unpowered aircraft design from the 1960s to gather atmospheric data on other planets—doing the same work as small satellites but potentially better and more economically.

John Bodylski, a principal investigator at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, hypothesized a lifting body aircraft design NASA tested decades ago could meet the requirements for an atmospheric probe that can collect measurements of giant planets, like Uranus. The design relies on the aircraft's shape for lift, rather than wings.

SpaceX's powerful Starship and Super Heavy rocket completed a more successful third orbital test flight from Texas on Thursday morning with no explosive endings on the way up that marred the first two test flights in 2023.

The way down, though, still saw more destructive ends as the first-stage booster came in at more than 600 mph hitting the Gulf of Mexico and the upper stage spacecraft broke up on reentry halfway around the Earth. The overall mission, though, was considered a success by SpaceX officials.

"This is the furthest that we've gotten in our test flight, but the further we fly, the more data that we can get and that's ultimately the measure of success here," said SpaceX commentator and quality systems engineering manager Kate Tice. "I think today has been a huge success, given where we were, we'd gone, and how much further we've gotten with both the booster and Starship itself."

The Federal Aviation Administration announced late Wednesday it had granted SpaceX a license for the Orbital Flight Test 3, and the 396-foot-tall rocket took flight at 9:25 a.m.

SpaceX scrubbed a launch attempt Wednesday night with just over 2 minutes on the countdown clock. The mission was set to send up another batch of Starlink satellites from the Space Coast using a first-stage booster for a record-tying 19th time.

SpaceX did not give a reason for the scrub, or say if it plans to try for its previously announced backup date on Thursday.

If it does, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 of SpaceX's internet satellites flying from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-A could fly during a four-hour window Thursday that opens at 7:04 p.m.

Space Launch Delta 45's weather squadron forecasts a 95% chance for good conditions with the delay to Thursday.

The first-stage booster could equal the total number of flights by two of SpaceX's other boosters, one of which, though, was destroyed when it toppled over at sea.

This booster's resume includes two human spaceflights, the Inspiration4 orbital mission flown by billionaire Jared Issacman and the first private spaceflight for Axiom Space on its Ax-1 mission to the International Space Station. It has also flown the GPS III Space Vehicle 04, GPS III Space Vehicle 05, Nilesat 301, OneWeb Launch 17, ARABSAT BADR-8 and 11 Starlink missions.

Starship, the world's most powerful rocket, flew further and faster than ever before during its third test flight Thursday, although it was eventually lost as it re-entered the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, SpaceX said.

Lift-off from the company's Starbase in southeast Texas came around 8:25 am local time (1325 GMT) and was carried live on a webcast that was eventually watched by more than 3.5 million people on social media platform X.

Danish chef Rasmus Munk wants to take high-end cuisine to the edge of space, with plans to serve up a stratospheric dining experience in 2025, his restaurant said Thursday.