SpaceX’s Starship successfully takes off before bursting into flames

SpaceX’s integrated Starship spacecraft successfully took off from its launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas, on Thursday but didn’t manage to fully complete its test flight. The spacecraft spun out of control before bursting into a ball of flames about four minutes into its flight, cutting the test short.

In a statement on Twitter, SpaceX said, “Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation.” During today’s 90-minute test flight, Starship was supposed to reach an altitude of about 150 miles as it takes a journey around the globe before splashing down into the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. SpaceX scrubbed its first test flight attempt on April 17th due to a “frozen” pressurant valve.

The 394-foot launch system, which is comprised of the Super Heavy booster and Starship spacecraft, is known collectively as Starship. SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster comes equipped with 33 powerful Falcon Raptor engines and is designed to be reusable. However, SpaceX wasn’t going to take advantage of this feature this time around, as the booster was supposed to drop into the Gulf of Mexico shortly after launch instead of attempting to land upright.

According to SpaceX, the goal of today’s test was to “inform and improve the probability of success in the future as SpaceX rapidly advances development of Starship,” even if things don’t go as planned during the flight. SpaceX’s launch system will eventually help ferry both astronauts and cargo to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. It’s the same system that NASA will use to bring astronauts back to the Moon during the Artemis III mission in 2025.

Update April 20th, 9:48AM ET: Updated to note that the flight was cut short.