SpaceX’s new rocket, the biggest and most powerful ever built, has blasted off on its first test flight, thundering into the South Texas sky before blowing apart minutes later.
Elon Musk’s company launched the nearly 120-metre Starship rocket from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border, on Thursday morning (Thursday night AEST).
The plan called for the booster to peel away and plummet into the Gulf of Mexico shortly after liftoff, with the spacecraft hurtling ever higher toward the east in a bid to circle the world, before crashing into the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.
But the rocket and booster failed to separate, instead spinning several times before exploding in what SpaceX quality systems engineering manager Kate Tice called a “rapid unscheduled disassembly”.
SpaceX employees on the telecast were at pains to stress the launch was still a success, having earlier predicted just a 50-50 chance of successful takeoff.
“I do want to remind everyone that everything after clearing the tower was icing on the cake,” Tice said.
No people or satellites were aboard for this debut launch.
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Throngs of spectators watched from several kilometres away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off-limits.
The company plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars.
NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys.
It was the second launch attempt. Monday’s try was scrapped by a frozen booster valve.
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