Elon Musk’s SpaceX Rocket Explodes After Takeoff (Watch Video)

SpaceX’s Starship rocket launched Thursday morning only to, moments later, erupt in a deafening explosion.

The unmanned Starship was the first attempt by SpaceX to launch its spaceship equipped with the Super Heavy booster it needs to reach orbit. The team previously launched Starship in high-altitude flights in 2020 and 2021, but the rocket has never reached orbit. Thursday’s attempt was the first time the Starship was attached to the Super Heavy booster.

Crowds watching the launch cheered when Starship gained momentum and cleared the tower. Later in the launch, the Starship began to spin and didn’t properly separate as it was supposed to do three minutes into the flight. When the Starship erupted in a plume of smoke and flame, the crowd cheered and clapped anyway.

Many of the high-altitude tests also ended in explosions, with the latest version seeing success, according to a report by Forbes. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk predicted that an explosion was likely on the spaceship’s first attempt to launch while attached to the Super Heavy booster.

Musk’s prediction proved correct, but the spaceship successfully clearing the tower from which it deployed was cause for celebration. Despite the explosion, the crew deemed the launch a success.

“Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months,” Musk tweeted shortly after the explosion Thursday morning.

Watch the video below: