The largest and most powerful rocket ever built blasted off from Texas but blew up within minutes, in a test flight that its makers, SpaceX, hope will be the first step on a human journey to Mars. After a cancelled launch earlier this week due to a pressurisation issue, the 120-metre Starship rocket system took off at 8.33am local time on Thursday. It gathered speed but then started to spin at altitude before exploding about four minutes after leaving the ground. It appeared that the two sections of the rocket system – the booster and cruise vessel – were unable to separate properly after takeoff, possibly causing the spacecraft to fail
Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket blows up minutes after launch
More Stories
Did you solve it? All you need to know about 2025
Esports are booming in Africa – but can its infrastructure keep pace?
Man who falsely claimed to be bitcoin creator sentenced for continuing to sue developers