Starship launches from the pad during SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, falls to earth after exploding 4 minutes after its launch Thursday from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas — SpaceX’s giant new rocket exploded minutes after blasting off Thursday on it first test flight and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.
Elon Musk’s company was aiming to send the nearly 400-foot 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 multiple engines weren’t working on the 33-engine rocket as it climbed from the launch pad, reaching as high as 24 miles.
The flight plan had called for the booster to peel away from the spacecraft minutes after liftoff, but that didn’t happen. The rocket began to tumble and then exploded four minutes into the flight, plummeting into the gulf.
After separating, the spacecraft was supposed to continue east and attempt to circle the world, before crashing into the Pacific near Hawaii.
Starship comes out of the smoke from the launch pad during SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, falls to earth after exploding 4 minutes after its launch Thursday from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer
Starship launches from the pad during SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, falls to earth after exploding 4 minutes after its launch Thursday from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer
Starship launches from the pad during SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, falls to earth after exploding 4 minutes after its launch Thursday from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer
Starship launches from the pad during SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, falls to earth after exploding 4 minutes after its launch Thursday from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer
Starship still attach to booster 7 spins out of control in the sky after launch from the pad during SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, falls to earth after exploding 4 minutes after its launch Thursday from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer
Starship still attach to booster 7 spins out of control in the sky after launch from the pad during SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, falls to earth after exploding 4 minutes after its launch Thursday from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer
Starship still attach to booster 7 spins out of control in the sky after launch from the pad during SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, falls to earth after exploding 4 minutes after its launch Thursday from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer
Starship still attach to booster 7 spins out of control in the sky after launch from the pad during SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, falls to earth after exploding 4 minutes after its launch Thursday from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer
A tour boat passes SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, was it prepares to launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Thursday, April 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Jose Cabrera, a technician with SpaceX, waits as the SpaceX Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, prepares for launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Thursday, April 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Horseback riders pass SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, as it stands ready for a scheduled launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Visitors look on as SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, as it stands ready for a scheduled launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Visitors look on as SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, as it stands ready for a scheduled launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Visitors look on as SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, stands ready for a scheduled launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Visitors look on as SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, stands ready for a scheduled launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Workers ready SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, for a scheduled launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Visitors look on as SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, stands ready for a scheduled launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
NASA Astronaut Sunita Williams, left, and Haley Esparza, right, ride horseback as they visit SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, as it is readied for launch at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, left, and Haley Esparza, right, ride horseback as they visit SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, as it is readied for launch at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
SpaceX workers fly the SX flag during SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, falls to earth after exploding 4 minutes after its launch Thursday from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer
Photographers gets photos during SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, falls to earth after exploding 4 minutes after its launch Thursday from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer
Huge smoke cloud seen at the launch pad during SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, falls to earth after exploding 4 minutes after its launch Thursday from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer
SpaceX’s Starship launches from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Thursday, April 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Starship comes out of the smoke from the launch pad during SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, falls to earth after exploding 4 minutes after its launch Thursday from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer
Starship comes out of the smoke from the launch pad during SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, falls to earth after exploding 4 minutes after its launch Thursday from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer
Starship launches from the pad during SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, falls to earth after exploding 4 minutes after its launch Thursday from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer
Starship launches from the pad during SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, falls to earth after exploding 4 minutes after its launch Thursday from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer
Starship still attach to booster 7 spins out of control in the sky after launch from the pad during SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, falls to earth after exploding 4 minutes after its launch Thursday from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. April 20, 2023. Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing Photographer
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.
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.
At 394 feet and nearly 17 million pounds of thrust, Starship easily surpasses NASA’s moon rockets — past, present and future. The stainless steel rocket is designed to be fully reusable with fast turnaround, dramatically lowering costs, similar to what SpaceX’s smaller Falcon rockets have done soaring from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Nothing was to be saved from the test flight.
The futuristic spacecraft flew several miles into the air during testing a few years ago, landing successfully only once. But this was to be the inaugural launch of the first-stage booster with 33 methane-fueled engines.
SpaceX has more boosters and spacecraft lined up for more test flights. Musk wants to fire them off in quick succession, so he can start using Starships to launch satellites into low-Earth orbit and then put people on board.
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