SpaceX rocket explodes minutes into test launch

The world’s largest and most powerful rocket ever built blasted off from Texas, but blew up minutes into the test flight.

After a cancelled launch earlier this week because of a pressurisation issue, the 120-metre Starship rocket system took off at 3:33pm on Thursday.

It gathered speed but then started to spin at altitude before exploding about four minutes after leaving the ground.

It appeared that the two sections of the rocket system – the booster and cruise vessel – were unable to separate properly after take-off, possibly causing the spacecraft to fail.

The uncrewed sub-orbital test marked the first “fully stacked” trial in which the Starship cruise vessel – which is designed to eventually carry up to 100 astronauts – was placed on top of the Super Heavy booster rocket, whose 33 Raptor engines provided the immense thrust needed.

The mammoth spacecraft stands 10 metres taller than the Saturn V rocket that sent humans to the moon in 1969.

SpaceX had cautioned the chances of success were relatively low, and the test flight’s aim was that of collecting data. Employees at SpaceX cheered even after the rocket exploded.

“As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation,” SpaceX tweeted.