Starship explodes minutes after launch

SpaceX's giant new rocket exploded minutes after blasting off on its first test flight on April 20 and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.

Elon Musk's company was aiming to send the nearly 120-meter Starship rocket on a round-the-world trip from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. It carried no people or satellites.

Images showed several of the 33 main engines were not firing as the rocket climbed from the launch pad, reaching as high as 24 miles (39 kilometers).

The booster was supposed to peel away from the spacecraft three minutes after liftoff, but that didn't happen. The rocket with the spacecraft still attached began to tumble and then exploded, plummeting into the gulf.

Once flying free, the spacecraft was meant to lap around the world, ending with a crash-landing in the Pacific near Hawaii.

Instead of a best-case-scenario 1 1/2-hour flight, it lasted four minutes.

Throngs of spectators watched from South Padre Island, several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off limits. As it lifted off, the crowd screamed: "Go, baby, go!"

Musk, in a tweet, called it "an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months."
In the weeks leading up to the flight, Musk gave 50-50 odds that the spacecraft would reach orbit.

"You never know exactly what's going to happen," said SpaceX livestream commentator and engineer John Insprucker. "But as we promised, excitement is guaranteed and Starship gave us a rather spectacular end."

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.