SpaceX Starship explosion: Video shows vessel turn into ball of fire

Amidst cheers from gathered employees watching a livestream, SpaceX conducted a test of its next-generation rocket on Thursday. The rocket, designed for missions to the moon and Mars, ignited and soared upward for approximately four minutes.

However, as seen in the SpaceX launch video, it seems that the separation of the spacecraft from the booster failed, and a few of the booster's 33 engines didn't ignite. This caused the rocket to spiral downward before exploding. While the cause of the failure is not yet known, the rocket's takeoff itself was considered a success by the company.

"As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation," SpaceX tweeted shortly after the test. "Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test."

Nasa's Artemis programme, which aims to land humans on the moon by 2025, will depend on the success of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft - the most powerful rocket ever built.

In a test flight on Thursday, Starship was launched without a crew for a 90-minute flight, with the intention of making it a reusable vehicle capable of transporting huge cargo loads into space, the SpaceX launch video showed.

Although SpaceX described the test as an early stage, CEO Elon Musk congratulated the team and stated that they learned a lot for their next test launch in a few months.

Thursday's test flight was a significant milestone for SpaceX's mission to create a reusable spacecraft that will enable exploration beyond current capabilities.

Although the spacecraft is designed to be recoverable, this test involved having the rocket and spacecraft fall into the ocean for the data collection on system performance, which is crucial for future development.