SpaceX rocket explodes minutes after successful launch

Elon Musk's SpaceX Starship rocket exploded four minutes into its first successful test flight from Boca Chica, Texas, on Thursday.

"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," the company said on Twitter after the explosion.

The rocket, which was unmanned, was the largest and most powerful ever built.

An issue with the mechanism allowing the rocket's booster to separate from the spacecraft caused Starship to enter a spiral, at which point a SpaceX commentator said, "It does appear to be spinning, but I just want to remind everyone that everything after clearing the tower was icing on the cake." As the commentator concluded her sentence, the rocket became engulfed in smoke and flames.

SpaceX CEO Musk tweeted the company learned "a lot for the next test launch in a few months."

Madeleine Hubbard is an international correspondent for Just the News. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.