It then descended to a controlled vertical landing and minutes later, the rocket exploded in a fireball. However, the test flight appeared to be a major step forward in the early stages of the Starship program.
The bullet-shaped rocket ship remained intact, prompting a SpaceX commentator to declare, "third time's a charm."
"We had, again, another great flight up. We've just got to work on that landing a little bit," John Insprucker, SpaceX principal integration engineer said on the company's webcast of the flight.