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The Starship launched successfully but didn’t last long into its first orbital test flight before blowing up.

SpaceX Starship prototype stacked on top of a Super Heavy rocket in Boca Chica, Texas, mounted on a launch tower shown with a sunset and partially cloudy backdrop.

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Space

SpaceX

SpaceX Starship launch: all of the news on its test flight and that explosive ending

Elon Musk&rsquo;s stated goal of putting humans on Mars relies heavily on the development of a next-generation reusable spacecraft, and Starship (formerly known as Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR) attempted its first orbital test flight. It&rsquo;s not the &ldquo;six months&rdquo; goal Musk projected in 2019, but after a number of suborbital tests that included some terrific successes and fantastic, fiery failures, the big day is finally here.
According to the original plan, the Starship would fly to orbital velocity&nbsp;after separating from its Super Heavy booster rocket about three minutes into the trip and then splash down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.
However, on the first try, at least, things didn&rsquo;t go to script all the way through. The spacecraft began spiraling and corkscrewing (at least from the perspective of ground cameras) and &ldquo;experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly&rdquo; before Starship&rsquo;s planned separation from the first stage.
[Image: https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/chorus/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24598188/rocketblownup.gif?quality=90&strip=all]
SpaceX founder Elon Musk said in a tweet that the next Starship test will occur &ldquo;in a few months.&rdquo;
In a statement, SpaceX writes, &ldquo;The vehicle experienced multiple engines out during the flight test, lost altitude, and began to tumble. The flight termination system was commanded on both the booster and ship.&rdquo;
You can watch how it all went down from SpaceX&rsquo;s video feed here, cued up to just a few seconds before launch.
[Media: https://www.youtube.com/live/-1wcilQ58hI?feature=shareu0026t=2691]
Read on for all the latest news about SpaceX’s first Starship orbital test flight.

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More views.

Things got off to a good start.

Rapid unscheduled disassembly.

And... it’s over.

Liftoff.

HOLD.

Just a few minutes left.

T-10.

Engine chill.

Something else to consider.

T-33 minutes.

Status update.

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And Mission Control audio.

Loading....

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