Former SpaceX image from Kennedy courtesy of SpaceX

Another set-back for Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship Rocket as it exploded shortly after lift-off today in South Texas during a major test flight.

The world’s largest and most powerful rocket exploded into a ball of fire during its second failed orbital launch in a week.

It was reported the spacecraft was ‘sent into a tailspin’ when the rocket failed to separate over the Gulf of Mexico. The mission ended at around four minutes when the failure sent the craft crashing toward Earth, imploding mid-descent.

‘Exciting test launch’

However, it is understood Musk and his team still applauded the failed launch as Musk tweeted shortly after: “Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.”

SpaceX then added on Twitter that its team will review data and work toward another flight for the rocket: “As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation.”

It added: “With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary.”

Musk has said the entire SpaceX programme will cost anywhere from $3 billion to $10 billion.

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