taste testing experiment

Enjoy our range of fun science experiments for kids that feature awesome hands-on projects and activities that help bring the exciting world of science to life.

We all know that some foods taste better than others but what gives us the ability to experience all these unique flavours? This simple experiment shows that there's a lot more to taste than you might have first thought.

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Senses Experiments

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 Here are some senses experiments and activities that we have tried and some others that we have on the list to complete.

Sense Of Hearing

We hear because sound waves travel through the air until they hit the ear drum. The sound waves vibrate the eardrum, which in turn, vibrates the bones of the middle ear. These vibrations are transferred to the cochlea, located in the inner ear. The cochlea translates those vibrations into stimuli that the ocular nerve can send to the brain.

It all starts with sound waves and the eardrum. To demonstrate how sound can actually be a physical force, you can do this simple experiment.

Eardrum Experiment

You’ll need:

• plastic wrap
• 20 or so uncooked rice grains
• cookie sheet or metal baking pan

Stretch the plastic wrap over the bowl tightly. This is your eardrum. Place 20 or so rice grains on the tightened plastic wrap. Hold the pan or cookie sheet close to the blow, but not touching. Bang on the pan with your hand or large spoon making a loud noise. Watch the rice. It should jump each time you bang on the pan. The sound waves created should vibrate the plastic wrap making the rice move. Sound can be a physical force.

More on Hearing

The Science of Hearing   Video

How the Ears Work   Video

Operation Ouch- The Eardrum   Video

Journey of Sound to the Brain   Video

Sense Of Touch

The sense of touch can be used all over the body. We have touch receptors just under our skin that give us lots of information. If you want to test someone’s sense of touch, make a touch box . Get a box with a lid and cut a hole in the side just large enough to fit your hand. Choose various, safe objects of various textures that will fit easily into the box. (cotton ball, rock, rubber ball, tree bark, a sponge, an apple…) Place one object in the box at a time, but don’t let the other person see. Allow the person to put their hand through the hole and try and guess what they are feeling.

More on Touch

Touch Experiments

How your Skin Senses

Sense of Touch Experiments

Sense of Touch Video

Sensation (Touch, Pain, and Temperature) Video

Sense Of Sight

Our eyes work together to allow us to see. To test how they work together you will need:

• a paper cup

Set the paper cup on a table about 2 feet in front of your subject who should be sitting in a chair at the table. Have the person cover one eye. Hold a penny in your hand about 1.5 feet above the table. Slowly move your hand in front of, in back of and to the sides of the paper cup. When, the person thinks you are above the cup, have them say “Drop”.

Drop the penny. Do this again with one eye covered and then with both eyes open. Which way is easier? Your eyes work together for proper depth perception. Using both eyes should be easier to determine when the penny was above the cup.

Related Post: Sense of sight lesson and free printable

More on Sight

Sense of Sight Activities

Depth Perception Activity

20/20 Vision Activity

Sense of Sight- How it Works Video

Human Eye Video

What is Color Blindness Video

Vision: Crash Course A&P Video

How We See Color Video

The Visual System Video

Visual Perception   Video

Sense Of Taste

The sense of taste comes from taste receptors on your tongue. However, your taste is, also, influenced by your sense of smell. To test this you will need lifesaver candies of various flavors and a partner. Have your partner hold his or her nose. Give the lifesavers one at a time to your partner. Don’t let them see what color it is. Have them try to guess the flavor. Record the answers. Do the experiment again but with the nose unplugged. Which way made it easier to determine the flavor?

More On Taste

Sense of Taste Experiment

Test Your Taste

Test Your Taste Buds

Taste Testing Without Your Sense of Smell

The Sense of Taste   Video

Operation Ouch: The Tongue   Video

Taste Video

2-Minute Neuroscience: Taste   Video

Sense Of Smell

We had fun testing our sense of smell this week. Using small bowls with various odor-producing substances in our house and a blindfold, we conducted our smell test.

The bowls were held under the blindfolded subject’s nose. The subject tried to guess what they were smelling. We used hand soap, hot sauce, pickle juice and an orange.

More on Smell

Smell Experiments

Sense of Smell Experiments

Sniffing Out the Science of Smell

How Good is Your Sense of Smell?

The Sense of Smell   Video

How Your Nose Works   Video

How to Master Your Sense of Smell Video

Olfactory: Neuroanatomy Video Lab – Brain Dissections    Video

2-Minute Neuroscience: Olfaction Video

More Science Saturday

Don’t miss Science Saturday at MeetPenny.com . Get lots more sense study inspiration and ideas!

December 27, 2012

Super-Tasting Science: Find Out If You're a "Supertaster"!

A taste test from Science Buddies

By Science Buddies

Key concepts Human biology Taste Taste buds

Introduction Have you ever noticed that some people are a lot pickier about the food they eat than other people are? They might be more selective because they are supertasters ! To supertasters, the flavors of foods are much stronger than to average tasters. Whether or not someone is a supertaster comes down to the taste buds on his or her tongue, and you can actually investigate a person's supertaster status by looking at this. Are you a supertaster? Find out with this tongue-based activity!    Background Do you hate the taste of broccoli? Or think that grapefruit is extremely bitter? If so, you may be able to blame it on your taste buds! Taste buds, located on small bumps on the tongue called fungiform papillae, are each made up of about 50 to 150 taste receptor cells. On the surface of these cells are receptors that bind to small molecules related to flavor. Each receptor is best at sensing a single flavor: sweet, salty, bitter, sour, or umami. The sum total of these sensations is the "taste" of the food.

The number of taste buds varies from person to person. People who have relatively more taste buds are called supertasters. To supertasters, foods may have much stronger flavors, which often leads to supertasters having very strong likes and dislikes for different foods. Supertasters often report that foods like broccoli, cabbage, spinach, grapefruit and coffee taste very bitter. The opposite of supertasters are non-tasters. Non-tasters have very few taste buds and, to them, most food may seem bland and unexciting. The people in the middle are average tasters. Which kind of taster do you think you are? What about your friends and family?

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Materials •Paper-hole reinforcers (one for each volunteer)—or clean wax paper, a standard hole puncher and scissors (instructions below) •Water and soap •At least five volunteers (such as friends and family) •Blue food coloring •One glass of water for each volunteer •Magnifying glass •A bright light or flashlight •Scrap of paper and a pen or pencil

Preparation •If you do not have paper-hole reinforcers, wash your hands with soap, take a clean piece of wax paper, and punch one hole in it for each volunteer. Cut out each hole so that you have at least five, small wax paper "rings."

Procedure •Wash your hands thoroughly with soap.  •Have the first volunteer open his or her mouth. Place a drop of blue food coloring on the tip of his or her tongue. Do not let the tip of the food coloring tube touch the volunteer's tongue. •Have the volunteer take a mouthful of water, swish it around in his or her mouth, and then spit it out.  •Ask the volunteer to make his or her tongue relatively dry by swallowing a couple of times. The remaining dye should stain all of the tongue blue except for the fungiform papillae, which will look like relatively large, lighter blue or pink bumps (in a sea of dark blue). These papillae are where the taste buds are. •Put a wax paper ring (that you prepared) or a paper-hole reinforcer on the tip of the volunteer's tongue, in the area that has been dyed.  •Using a magnifying glass under bright light, count the number of papillae within the hole. How many papillae are within the hole? Write this number down along with the volunteer's name. Tip: Don't count the really tiny bumps – just count the larger ones. •Your volunteer can now remove the paper ring or paper-hole reinforcer from his or her tongue. •Repeat the entire procedure with at least four more volunteers. Before testing each volunteer, wash your hands thoroughly with soap, and use a new cup with fresh water for each person. If you want to try this on yourself, have someone else count your papillae, or count them in a mirror. • How many papillae did most people have? Did people have different amounts of papillae, with some having a lot more than others? Knowing that if a person has more than 30 papillae they are considered a supertaster, were there any supertasters in your volunteer group? If so, how many?  • Extra: Repeat this activity with at least 25 more volunteers, for a total of at least 30 people. What percentage of people in this larger group turns out to be supertasters? What percentage are non-tasters, having fewer than 15 papillae? What percentage has between 15 and 30 papillae, and are average tasters? • Extra: Try this activity again but this time use an equal number of male and female volunteers, with at least 15 of each. Do males and females have the same likelihood of being a supertaster? • Extra: Look into how different foods, like spinach and chili peppers, taste to the different types of tasters. Based on this, can you make a taste-test to figure out who is a supertaster? Check how accurate your taste-test is by also counting the papillae for each person. • Extra: You can use a person's body mass index (BMI, formulas for which can be found online) and their results from this activity to try to figure out if there is a correlation between people's weight and the type of taster they are (supertaster, non-taster, or average taster). Do you find a correlation? Are supertasters more likely to be underweight, average, or above weight? Observations and results Did you find that people had different amounts of papillae, and that most people were not supertasters?

Typically when people do this activity if they have more than about 30 fungiform papillae they are considered a supertaster, if they have around 15 to 30 papillae they are an average taster, and if they have fewer than 15 papillae they are a non-taster. Although the percentages vary around the world and with different populations of people, around 25 to 30 percent of people are thought to be supertasters, 40 to 50 percent average tasters, and 25 to 30 percent non-tasters. (If you tested only five people, you may not have seen that around 1-2 people, or about 25 to 30 percent, were supertasters because of the small sample size. Additionally, if you only used genetically related family members this may have skewed the results as well since there is a genetic component to how many taste buds a person has.) Testing a person's sensitivity to a bitter chemical called 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) is a more definitive way to determine if he or she is a supertaster; non-tasters can't taste PROP, but supertasters can and really don't like its bitter taste! Average tasters can taste it too, but its bitter taste is not strong enough to bother them.

More to explore Science of Supertasters from BBC Science Sensing Fat from Beverly J. Tepper and Kathleen L. Keller at The Scientist What are Taste Buds? from KidsHealth Do You Love the Taste of Food? Find Out if You're a Supertaster! from Science Buddies

Doing Science To Stuff

Some things just need science done to them., triangle testing: a detailed procedure for blind taste tests of beverages.

From time to time we plan on performing a form of taste test, called a triangle test.  What follows is the basic framework that will be used in those future tests.

Background:

Performing a meaningful taste test is a surprisingly difficult task.  In the past we had often tried to express what it was we liked/disliked about the various options being tasted.  However after exposure to the book Blink , we realized this was perhaps an erroneous approach.  A much simpler approach is to perform a test with  the goal of determining if it is possible to tell the difference between two different beverages.

Equipment & Materials:

• 2 different beverages (A & B)
• 2 graduated cylinders
• 4 blind tasting glasses
• 8 unique wine charms
• 2 pieces of paper
• 1 pen / pencil
• glass of water (per taster)

Equipment for performing a triangle test of two beverages.

• Place one wine charm onto each glass.
• Using the first graduated cylinder, pour equal amounts of beverages A into two glasses.
• Record which glasses are beverage A on first piece of paper.
• Using the second graduated cylinder, pour the same amount of beverage B into the other two glasses.
• Recording which ones are beverage B, on first piece of paper.
• Shuffle the order of the glasses.
• Hide first piece of paper from person 2.
• Record the original charms on second piece of paper.
• Add a second wine charm to each glass.
• Record the pairings of charms on each glass (optionally taking a photo as evidence).
• Remove original charms.
• Shuffle the order of the wine glasses.
• Set aside one one glass.
• Hide second piece of paper from person 1.

All tasters:

• Drink some water to rinse your mouth before first taste.
• Sample each of the glasses, being sure to rinse your mouth with water between samples.
• Resample each glass as needed, rinsing your mouth between tastes.
• Secretly record the charm of the glass you believe contains a different beverage than the other two glasses.

Once all tasters have recorded which glass they think contains the unique beverage, trace backwards through the charm mappings recorded on the pieces of paper, to determine which beverage is in each glass.

Original Charm to beverage mapping:

Original charm to New charm mapping:

Observations by Tasters:

If the need arrises for modifications to the above process, we will note those changes here.

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• Taste Testing Market Research & How it Works

Introduction

The purpose of taste testing is to determine the preferences of consumers. It is an important part of marketing research and can be used to inform decisions about brand positioning , product development, and pricing . 

Taste testing can be conducted by either a representative sample or by an individual consumer. In this article, we will discuss how to conduct taste testing research.

What is Taste Testing Market Research?

Taste testing market research is a form of conducting market research . It is a great way to see what they think about other products or services, which can help you plan for the future.

Taste testing market research helps you find out what people or customers want from your company whether it’s something new or an improvement on something that already exists, like a better version of an existing product or service. Knowing what people want will help you figure out how to meet their needs and expectations as effectively as possible.

Taste testing market research is an important part of the marketing process, especially for food and beverage manufacturers. It is considered an informal evaluation of a product through use by people and it can be done with consumers, staff, or members of the public. 

The purpose of a taste test is to identify problems with the product or its packaging, which can then be addressed before launch. There are many different ways that companies have used taste tests in the past. 

For example, some companies will send out free samples of their products to people who have permitted them to do so. Others will launch their newest product at an event where people can try them out for free and leave feedback afterward.

Benefits of Taste Testing Foods

• Taste testing helps you understand what your customers like, so you can create more appealing products.
• It is excellent at revealing the tastes and preferences of consumers.
• It helps you gain insight into what makes a product stand out from competitors.
• Taste testing is good for identifying new products and services that will appeal to consumers.
• Taste tests also help identify problems with product quality that could lead to recalls or customer complaints.
• The gathered information from taste testing can help you make decisions about whether or not to launch your product, and how much to spend on advertising and promotions.

What is the Process of Taste Testing Market Research?

Taste testing market research is an approach to gathering information about consumer preferences, opinions, and behaviors that you can use to inform your marketing strategy. You can conduct taste testing by taking small samples from different parts of the product and giving them to participants who will then evaluate them. 

The results from the taste test are then used to determine what changes need to be made to improve the product’s quality. 

There are two main ways to conduct taste testing: 

One is by conducting focus groups , which are group discussions led by a researcher where participants discuss their experiences with a new product or service. 

The other is by conducting small-scale experiments in which participants are randomly assigned a treatment (such as a particular ad campaign) or no treatment at all. 

Both methods have advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to choose the one that works best for your situation.

How to Find Participants for Taste Testing Market Research

It’s important that you find participants for your taste test who represent all demographics and age groups. This will ensure that you get an accurate picture of what your target audience thinks about your product or service. 

There are different ways that you can find your participants for taste testing market research. You can use social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter to ask people if they would be interested in participating in a taste test on your product. 

You can also use surveys that have been designed specifically for this purpose or ask friends and family members if they would be willing to participate in a taste test on your product as well.

Furthermore, you can recruit participants at events where they are likely to be present (such as conferences). If you’re planning on conducting a large-scale survey online, you may want to seek out people who have indicated an interest in tasting new foods and beverages in exchange for money (such as Amazon reviewers).

Which Taste Test Recruiting Option is Best?

If you’re wondering which taste test recruiting option is best, there are a few factors that should be considered:

• Where are taste tests hosted?
• How many people will participate in the taste test (and what kinds of regions will they be from)?
• How many potential tasters are there?
• What are their backgrounds and interests?

Other factors to keep in mind when determining how many people will participate in your taste test include age range and gender breakdown. For example, if you’re trying to determine which beverage tastes better between Coke and Pepsi, a classic “taste test”., then age would be an important factor. 

This is because younger participants may not have as developed palates as older ones do. Similarly, gender might also come into play when trying to figure out whether men prefer feminine tastes like lemonade over beer or vice versa.

Where Are Taste Tests Hosted?

You need to consider where you will host your taste test. There are a few options available: in-person, online, or both. 

Online surveys are convenient because they allow you to reach a lot of respondents at once, but they typically don’t provide as much feedback as an in-person survey would. In addition, some people may feel uncomfortable sharing their opinions about products in front of other people especially if they’re not familiar with the brand. 

So an in-person test can be a better option overall. When determining which type of taste test is best for your business, think about how often you’ll want to conduct one and how many people you need to reach. 

If your audience consists mainly of young adults who live far away from where your store is located (like college students), then an online survey may be ideal. it will allow them to participate from home or work while providing their feedback on timeframes that are more convenient than if they had to travel back home after work hours.

Advantages of Taste Testing Research

• A taste test is an effective way to learn about the preferences of consumers. It is also an important part of market research and can be used to help companies determine which products will appeal to their target audience.
• Taste testing allows researchers to measure a product’s appeal by observing how people respond to it in the real world. This can give you insight into whether or not your product or service is what consumers want.
• It allows you to measure what people want and helps you make improvements to the way you sell your products.

Limitations of Taste Testing Research

• The main limitation of taste testing research is that it’s expensive and time-consuming. it requires lots of samples to be tested and analyzed in order to get meaningful results.
• Another limitation of taste testing research is that it doesn’t account for things like personal taste or cultural bias and those are both huge factors in consumer behavior. Taste testing research won’t be able to tell you if someone will love your new product if they’re just not interested in the category as a whole; for example, if they don’t like coffee or tea at all (or maybe even just hate them).

How To Conduct Taste Testing Research with Formplus

Conducting taste testing research with Formplus survey forms is easy, fast, and powerful. With Formplus survey forms, you can quickly collect feedback from your audience and learn what they think about the product or service you’re trying to promote.

The Formplus platform makes it easy to create an interactive survey that your audience can use to give feedback about your brand or product. Simply log in to your Formplus account or create one for free .

Select your form template from over 1000 free survey templates available and start creating your form. It is super easy to navigate and it allows you to customize your form as well.

Taste testing is a great way to get feedback on your product and learn what consumers like and dislike, but it’s not always easy. Taste tests are expensive and time-consuming, and they’re always in high demand.

Luckily, we’ve broken down how to go about conducting your taste tests above, simply follow the steps outlined. Make sure you have clear instructions on how to conduct your taste test so that everyone knows exactly what is expected of them.

Connect to Formplus, Get Started Now - It's Free!

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• CORRESPONDENCE
• 19 December 2023

What was the Turing test actually about?

• Bernardo Gonçalves   ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2794-8478 0

University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Mathematician Alan Turing proposed that machines would one day be able to think and behave like humans (see Nature 619 , 686–689; 2023 ). This vision was challenged by neurosurgeon Geoffrey Jefferson, who argued, for example, that machines could not be classed as able to think until they had mastered language and written a sonnet.

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Lifting off from SpaceX’s launchpad at 7:50 a.m. in South Texas, near Brownsville, Starship rumbled into the sky.

After it dropped away from the upper stage, the booster was able to gently set down in the Gulf of Mexico while the second-stage spacecraft traveled halfway around the world, survived the searing temperatures of re-entering the atmosphere and also made a controlled splashdown, in the Indian Ocean.

The flight was not flawless, and tough technical hurdles remain. The successes, surpassing what was accomplished during the previous test flight in March, offered optimism that Mr. Musk can pull off his vision of a rocket that is the biggest and most powerful ever and yet entirely reusable.

The outcome also helps validate the company’s break-it-then-fix-it approach to engineering, with steady progress since the first test launch in April last year when the rocket had to be deliberately destroyed when it flew off course.

“They are showing a capability to make progress more rapidly than we may have thought they’d been able to make,” said Daniel L. Dumbacher, executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a professional society for engineers. “They’ve got a team that knows what they’re doing, has the capability is willing to learn, and just as importantly, is not beholden to past assumptions.”

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Starship splashes down for first time in 4th test: See progression of the SpaceX flights

SpaceX's Starship, the largest and most powerful spacecraft to ever be sent to space , completed a fourth test flight Thursday, splashing down in the Indian Ocean successfully for the first time since it started conducting test flights last year. The rocket's first three tests ended in explosions.

The unmanned craft is classified as a super heavy-lift launch vehicle and is working toward an ultimate goal of delivering astronauts back and forth between the Earth, moon and even Mars.

Thursday's successful test is good news for NASA, which  awarded SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract  in 2021 to develop the first commercial human lander for its Artemis III mission to the moon slated for 2026 .

Here's what happened in all four of the Starship's test launches so far, which illustrates SpaceX's progressive improvement since its inaugural test in April 2023.

June 6, 2024: Starship completes first-ever successful landing burn in fourth test flight

The Starship had its most successful test run the fourth time around, lifting off from SpaceX’s private Starbase site in Boca Chica, Texas at 8:50 a.m. ET Thursday morning.

The craft experienced a successful separation from the booster, which saw 32 of 33 engines igniting properly during launch, about seven minutes into the flight.

The booster successfully came back down to Earth and splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico as planned and all six of Starship's engines powered it into successful orbital insertion.

Heat shields protecting the outside of the craft took a beating, with at least one throwing debris into one of the live-streaming external cameras, but it managed to make a successful reentry into Earth's atmosphere.

Roughly one hour and six minutes into the flight, Starship completed its first-ever landing burn and splashed down into the Indian Ocean to raucous applause.

March 14, 2024: Starship reaches space before being lost in atmosphere in third test flight

In the third test, the Starship succeeded in separating from the booster and proceeding to orbit within minutes of launching, where it conducted a series of in-flight tests while coasting through space.

Video of its flight beamed back to Earth using SpaceX's Starlink Satellite network was able to capture the beginning of the spacecraft's re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. However, the signal was lost about an hour into the mission before SpaceX concluded that the craft likely broke apart.

Despite Starship's failure to make its planned splashdown in the Indian Ocean, SpaceX said the rocket still achieved several key milestones, including the successful firing of its 33 Raptor engines in the booster and the opening of a payload door.

NASA Administrator hailed the test as an optimistic development. "I'm just completely blown away," said Dan Huot, SpaceX communications manager, who helped to host the live webcast. "We're farther than we've ever been before."

Nov. 18, 2023: Starship makes it further in second test flight, but still explodes

During the second launch test of the Starship, the rocket survived for longer and achieved some milestones, but it still eventually exploded.

The booster was able to successfully separate from the rocket, which reached space before the ground crew lost communication with it after nine minutes. Three minutes later, SpaceX lost both the booster and the spacecraft in two explosions .

Rather than seeing it as a setback, SpaceX expressed optimism about the stage separation while saying the rest would just be valuable data to help them remedy whatever went wrong.

“The real topping on the cake today, that successful liftoff,” SpaceX commentator John Insprucker said after the November test, as  reported by the Associated Press . Insprucker noted that for the first time, all 33 booster engines fired as designed and the booster separated seamlessly from the spaceship, which reached an altitude of 92 miles.

April 20, 2023: Starship explodes minutes after launch in inaugural test flight

The Starship got off to a rough start when it exploded just four minutes into its inaugural test flight on April 20.

The craft was able to launch at SpaceX’s private Starbase site, but telemetry data revealed that several of the spacecraft's engines had failed, triggering the explosion before the booster and spacecraft were able to even separate.

SpaceX later confirmed the rocket's flight termination system was activated to destroy the tumbling vehicle before it met its fiery end.

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]

• Public Safety
• Nation & World

South Coast Rail is testing trains starting next week. Here's when, and how to be safe.

Beginning Monday, June 17, test trains will be running along the South Coast Rail route, according to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, and residents have been warned again never to trespass on the railroad right-of-way. 

According to the MBTA , test trains will travel up and down the route at speeds of up to 79 mph. 

Trespassing on the tracks or on the right-of-way is illegal and can be life-threatening. 

Commuter rail trains are much quieter and faster than freight trains. A train traveling at high speed can more than a mile to stop in case of emergency.  

It is illegal to use the ROW for hiking, dog-walking, ATV riding or any other purpose. 

In April , according to MBTA Director of Community Engagement Jean Fox, a vehicle in Fall River entered the right of way near Ferry Street and drove north on the train tracks, becoming stuck near Michael’s Chourico on Lindsey Street. 

What is South Coast Rail, and when will it start?

The South Coast Rail project will connect Fall River, New Bedford and Taunton to Boston’s South Station via commuter rail. Long in the works and long-delayed, the project is currently in a months-long testing phase. 

MBTA officials have previously said the testing phase also includes simulated service, where employees stop at each platform, open doors, and proceed along the route. 

The region has not seen passenger rail service since the late 1950s; railroad rights of way have long been disused except for occasional freight service.  

South Coast Rail service was first announced to start at the end of 2023. It was delayed until mid-2024, but at an April meeting a spokeswoman for the MBTA said a summer start was unlikely and could not predict when revenue service might begin. 

Watch CBS News

SpaceX's Super Heavy-Starship rocket launches on "epic" test flight

By William Harwood

Updated on: June 6, 2024 / 10:57 AM EDT / CBS News

SpaceX launched the world's most powerful rocket on its fourth flight Thursday, successfully putting the company's Starship upper stage into space and then bringing it back down through the heat of re-entry for an apparently controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean despite severe damage to at least one steering fin.

The gargantuan Super Heavy first stage booster also pulled off a controlled descent to a "soft" landing in the Gulf of Mexico after propelling the Starship out of the lower atmosphere. It was the first time both stages were able to accomplish the test flight's primary objectives.

"Despite loss of many (heat-shield) tiles and a damaged flap, Starship made it all the way to a soft landing in the ocean!" SpaceX founder Elon Musk  said on X . "Congratulations @SpaceX team on an epic achievement!"

The 397-foot-tall rocket blasted off from SpaceX's Boca Chica, Texas, "Starbase" flight facility at 8:50 a.m. EDT, thundering away from the Gulf Coast on the power of 33 methane-burning Raptor engines in the Super Heavy first stage.

With Musk looking on from the company's launch control center, holding one of his children on his lap, the Super Heavy-Starship climbed from its pad atop a brilliant jet of flaming exhaust, arcing to the east as it accelerated skyward.

Capable of generating 16 million pounds of thrust during the initial stages of flight, the rocket is by far the most powerful launcher ever built with more than twice the liftoff thrust of the space shuttle, NASA's legendary Apollo program Saturn 5 and the Space Launch System rocket designed for the agency's Artemis moon rocket.

Despite one Raptor shutting down early, the Super Heavy propelled the Starship upper stage out of the dense lower atmosphere then separated, flipped around and restarted multiple engines to reverse course and head back toward the Gulf Coast. The Starship, meanwhile, powered by six Raptors of its own, continued the climb to space on its own.

In a first for the test program, the Super Heavy carried out a controlled descent, firing up three engines to slow down for splashdown amid waves of raucous cheers and applause in SpaceX's Hawthorne, California, factory as live television images showed the tail of the boosting splashing into the water.

The 160-foot-tall Starship, meanwhile, reached its planned sub-orbital trajectory as planned and then coasted around the world before falling back into the atmosphere. Live television views showed the rocket bathed in the red glow of atmospheric friction as it fell belly first back into the lower atmosphere.

During the rocket's third test flight in March, the Starship did not survive its encounter with atmospheric friction, breaking up at high altitude. This time around, the vehicle appeared rock steady as it plunged back to Earth, bathed in super-heated plasma that could be seen engulfing the belly and the rocket's steering fins.

As the descent continued, a camera showed the heat eating away a steering fin, with chunks of flaming debris ripping away.

"This is a nail-biter!" exclaimed SpaceX commentator Kate Tice.

Remarkably, data from the Starship continued flowing in and the vehicle's engines re-ignited for the planned landing burn. What orientation the ship was in when it hit the water could not be seen in views from an obviously damaged camera, but getting to that point marked a major success.

"It was incredible," said SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot. "I can't wait until the next one."

Both the Super Heavy booster and Starship are designed to be fully reusable. Once operational, SpaceX plans to fly the first stage back to the launch site where it will be captured by giant mechanical arms on its launch gantry. The Starship is designed to land at any available site, whether on Earth, the moon or even Mars.

But for the Super Heavy-Starship's initial test flights, recovery was not an option. The goal was to "simply" get both stages back to the lower atmosphere intact and under control.

"The fourth flight test turns our focus from achieving orbit to demonstrating the ability to return and reuse Starship and Super Heavy," SpaceX said on its website. "The primary objectives will be executing a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico with the Super Heavy booster, and achieving a controlled entry of Starship."

During three previous flights, two in 2023 and the most recent in March, the Super Heavy and Starship stages suffered catastrophic failures before all the test objectives could be met. But with each flight, SpaceX implemented hardware and software upgrades that resulted in dramatically improved performance.

In the third test flight, the Starship upper stage made it into space, looped around the planet and began a planned descent over the Indian Ocean before breaking up in the upper atmosphere. The Super Heavy booster made it back into the lower atmosphere over the Gulf of Mexico before control was lost.

But SpaceX hailed the flight as an overall success and made more changes to improve performance during Thursday's test.

Getting the Super Heavy-Starship flying on a regular basis is critical to NASA's Artemis moon program . NASA awarded SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract in 2021 to develop a variant of the Starship upper stage to carry astronauts from lunar orbit down to the surface and back. Artemis crews will travel to and from the moon using Lockheed Martin-built Orion capsules.

To reach the moon, multiple Super Heavy tanker flights will have to be launched to robotically refuel a Starship upper stage already in low-Earth orbit. The Starship lander then will fly itself to lunar orbit to await the Artemis moonwalkers.

NASA's contract requires one unpiloted lunar landing test flight before astronauts will make an actual landing attempt. Artemis managers are targeting late 2026 for the first lunar landing with astronauts on board.

But that will depend on SpaceX launching enough Super Heavy-Starship flights to demonstrate reliability. While SpaceX's philosophy is to fly frequently, learn from mistakes and fly again, NASA will require a long string of successful flights before the agency will deem it safe to put astronauts aboard.

• Artemis Program

Bill Harwood has been covering the U.S. space program full-time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News.

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IELTS Exam Preparation: Free IELTS Tips, 2024

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Take IELTS test in or nearby Elektrostal'

There is no IELTS test center listed for Elektrostal' but you may be able to take your test in an alternative test center nearby. Please choose an appropriate test center that is closer to you or is most suitable for your test depending upon location or availability of test.

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Moscow, Russia

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An Overview of the IELTS

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is designed to measure English proficiency for educational, vocational and immigration purposes. The IELTS measures an individual's ability to communicate in English across four areas of language: listening , reading , writing and speaking . The IELTS is administered jointly by the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge English Language Assessment at over 1,100 test centres and 140 countries. These test centres supervise the local administration of the test and recruit, train and monitor IELTS examiners.

IELTS tests are available on 48 fixed dates each year, usually Saturdays and sometimes Thursdays, and may be offered up to four times a month at any test centre, including Elektrostal' depending on local needs. Go to IELTS test locations to find a test centre in or nearby Elektrostal' and to check for upcoming test dates at your test centre.

Test results are available online 13 days after your test date. You can either receive your Test Report Form by post or collect it from the Test Centre. You will normally only receive one copy of the Test Report Form, though you may ask for a second copy if you are applying to the UK or Canada for immigration purposes - be sure to specify this when you register for IELTS. You may ask for up to 5 copies of your Test Report Form to be sent directly to other organisations, such as universities.

There are no restrictions on re-sitting the IELTS. However, you would need to allow sufficient time to complete the registration procedures again and find a suitable test date.

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