SpaceX鈥檚 new prototype rocket, the Starhopper, soared to its highest altitude yet during a above Texas.

Tuesday鈥檚 test was described as the highest and riskiest one for the spacecraft, which hovered approximately 150 metres from the ground before it successfully landed nearby.

The small spacecraft is an early prototype of one the company hopes will shuttle people across the solar system. The way it lands is very similar to how SpaceX鈥檚 Falcon 9 rockets return to Earth by landing upright, as a way to save on the cost of fuel and single-use components.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk鈥檚 private U.S. aerospace manufacturer is privately contracted by the International Space Station and NASA to take cargo into space.

But Musk launched SpaceX with the aim of making private travel to space possible. Musk has said he hopes to one day send people and cargo to the Moon or even Mars.

The most recent test of the Starhopper is actually just the latest in a series of so-called 鈥渉op tests鈥� which began on July 25. Back then, it only flew about 18 metres off the ground but on Tuesday, it managed to climb nearly ten times as high.

These types of 鈥渉op tests鈥� are supposed to help SpaceX engineers figure out how to land the spacecraft on the surface of another planet.

Musk, who鈥檚 also the company鈥檚 CEO, said the latest test is going to be the last for this Starhopper prototype.