SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TEXAS — Elon Musk's SpaceX's giant new rocket blasted into the sky for a test flight Thursday, but then exploded and crashed into the Gulf Of Mexico.
Thankfully, there were not any personnel aboard the rocket at the time of the crash. Musk's goal was to send the nearly 400-foot Starship rocket on a round-the-world trip from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border.
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After separating, the spacecraft was supposed to continue east and attempt to circle the world, before crashing into the Pacific near Hawaii. The plan called for the booster to peel away from the spacecraft minutes after liftoff, but that failed to happen.
The rocket tumbled and then exploded and crashed into the gulf. Many spectators watched from South Padre Island, miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site.
The rocket has 17 million pounds of thrust and is designed to be fully reusable with a fast turnaround.
SpaceX estimates that Falcon Heavy missions can cost under $100 million. To compare, NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) will cost an estimated $2 billion per launch for similar missions.
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