There was no one on board the ship.
SpaceX‘s Starship rocket, a test flight expected to reach about 41,000 feet of altitude, exploded after launch Wednesday.
The ship had no one aboard.
The launch and ascent were successful, but as the engines appeared to reignite for landing, the vehicle flipped back to vertical and then slammed into the ground tail. The vehicle exploded on ground impact.
“This suborbital flight is designed to test a number of objectives, from how the vehicle’s three Raptor engines perform to the overall aerodynamic entry capabilities of the vehicle (including its body flaps) to how the vehicle manages propellant transition,” SpaceX wrote of the launch on its website. “SN8 will also attempt to perform a landing flip maneuver, which would be a first for a vehicle of this size.”
The Serial Number 8, or SN8, rocket was going to launch from SpaceX’s facility in Texas on Tuesday, but was scrapped due to an engine issue.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted, “Mars, here we come!” after the crash landing, though has not mentioned the explosion.
The SN8, which Musk has invested billions of dollars in, is SpaceX’s next model — after SN5 and SN6 — in the quest to build a reusable rocket that can take passengers to the moon and eventually Mars.
Musk has said recently that he hopes to have Starship launch an unmanned mission to Mars by 2024.
The company announced in 2018 that it had signed up a Japanese fashion designer to be the first private citizen to travel to the moon. The date for that expected launch is currently 2023.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.