WATCH: SpaceX Starship Explodes 4 Minutes Into Flight

The latest moonshot by private space travel company SpaceX successfully cleared its launch, though the Starship exploded four minutes into the flight in a dramatic video shared online.

The explosion of the largest manmade rocket ever created, while not ideal for founder Elon Musk, arguably cements his legacy as a major leader in space travel. The Starship was the equivalent of a 40-story tower, standing 390 feet tall, and the first intended to be reusable for multiple trips.

WATCH:

BREAKING: SpaceX Starship explodes 4 minutes into flight.

Truly remarkable to see a 40 story building leave the ground.

Congrats to the @SpaceX team! pic.twitter.com/YizSTFmRVS

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 20, 2023

Before launch, Musk sought to tamp down expectations saying it could take multiple attempts by the behemoth ship before it successfully reached space. The launch achieved a number of important milestones including clearing the launch tower before it started to decline and exploded high in the atmosphere. SpaceX engineers will now parse through a trove of data left in its wake to understand how to improve the production of new rockets.

Musk was bullish on the prospects for his company, tweeting “Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.”

Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!

Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months. pic.twitter.com/gswdFut1dK

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023

Before acquiring Twitter, Musk was known globally for founding Tesla and later SpaceX, which remains the dominant leader in the field of space travel. The company’s Falcon 9 rocket has so far completed 25 trips in 2023 alone with the most recent launch being successfully completed on Wednesday.

Bill Nelson, an administrator for NASA, congratulated his peers on Twitter, adding, “Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward.”

The next challenge for the burgeoning space leader will be preparing to support NASA’s Artemis III mission, which is targeting a landing on the moon’s southern pole. To be successful, future Starships will need to not only make it to the moon but also serve astronauts in its orbit who will then ride the SpaceX creation to the surface.