Private 'Grasshopper' Rocket Prototype Makes Highest Flight Yet

04-24-2013 • http://www.space.com, by Mike Wall

The prototype Grasshopper rocket, built by the private spaceflight company SpaceX, flew to an altitude of 820 feet (250 meters), hovered for a brief stretch and then returned to Earth at the company's rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas, on Friday (April 19).

The 1-minute test flight was the fifth made by the Grasshopper rocket. The jaunt more than tripled the rocket's previous record altitude of 263 feet (80 m), which was achieved during a March 7 test flight. [See more photos of SpaceX's novel Grasshopper rocket]

SpaceX shot a stunning video of Grasshopper's April 19 flight, incorporating footage shot from the ground with that taken by a miniature, six-bladed "hexacopter" probe (and setting the whole thing to Johnny Cash's famous song "Ring of Fire").

The hexacopter shots weren't just for dramatic effect.