SpaceX’s giant new rocket blasted off on its first test flight Thursday but failed minutes after rising from the launch pad.
Elon Musk’s company was aiming to send the nearly 400-foot (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; both the booster and spacecraft on top were to be ditched into the sea.
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.
Throngs of spectators watched from South Padre Island, several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off-limits. SpaceX’s first try to launch the rocket was called off Monday because of a stuck valve in the rocket during fueling.
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