Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched the world’s most powerful rocket, its 400-foot-tall Starship, on a historic test flight Thursday morning — only for it to explode in midair just minutes later.
The giant rocket lifted off from the launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas, a few minutes after Thursday’s launch window opened at 8:28 a.m. local time (9:28 a.m. ET).
Footage of the launch showed that the rocket — which is poised to take people to the moon as early as 2025 — failed to separate from its booster and began spinning before it blew up as it was 18 miles above the Earth. Musk’s Starship rocket exploded minutes after liftoff Thursday.SpaceX The rocket flew up 18 miles above Earth.SpaceX Elon Musk reacts to the test flight explosion on Thursday.
It was traveling at a speed of more than 1,300 miles per hour.
Musk and other leaders had tempered expectations for the launch before blastoff, saying the event would be considered a success if the Starship was able to get off the launchpad.
The liftoff of Elon Musks pet project came after a frozen valve in the mega-rocket postponed a Monday test launch.
Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!
Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months. pic.twitter.com/gswdFut1dK— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023
Musk touted the launch as “exciting.”
“Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.”
This is a developing story.
