SpaceX’s Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, took off in South Texas on April 20 2023, but exploded midair before stage separation. Thursday’s launch marked the rocket’s pioneering test flight. “As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation,” SpaceX tweeted.The Super Heavy rocket booster houses 33 engines. The Starship spacecraft, riding atop the booster, soared out over the Gulf of Mexico.

Despite it ending in an explosion, the test flight was considered a success. Clearing the launchpad was a major milestone for the new rocket. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is quoted saying, “Success is not what should be expected. … That would be insane” in regards to the pioneering flight of Starship.

“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary,” SpaceX tweeted after the explosion. Musk congratulated team members on “an exciting test launch” in a post-launch tweet. Musk said they “learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.”In a follow-up message to his employees, Musk added, “I don’t want to jinx it, but I think we are highly likely to reach orbit this year and recover the booster and ship, if not this year, certainly next year. Mars, here we come!”