The world’s most powerful rocket ever built by man, Elon Musk’s 500-foot-tall Starship, took its historic test flight Thursday morning — only for it to explode mid-air minutes later; an expected outcome for the team.
WATCH: Moment world's most powerful rocket blows up after takeoff. #spacex https://t.co/rXo27zPD8u pic.twitter.com/GZydERI44p
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 20, 2023
From The New York Post:
The giant rocket lifted off from the launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas a few minutes after Thursday’s launch window opened at 8:28 a.m. local time (9:28 a.m. ET).
The rocket, which is poised to take astronauts to the moon as early as 2025, did not reach orbit, but the test run drew cheers from the control center after the ship climbed to dozens of miles in the atmosphere.
No one was on board the rocket during the doomed launch.
The lift off of Elon Musk’s pet project came after a frozen valve in the mega-rocket postponed a Monday test launch.
“Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months,” Musk tweeted.
Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!
Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months. pic.twitter.com/gswdFut1dK
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023
Watch the video above. More overt at The New York Post:
JUST IN: Elon Musk’s Starship explodes midair during first integrated flight test https://t.co/8sFiKMP7xB pic.twitter.com/H6Q6yh8uEr
— New York Post (@nypost) April 20, 2023