SpaceX revealed that the company’s massive Starship rocket exploded in a test flight because of a failure in the stage separation between the vessel and its booster.

Starship, the largest rocket constructed in the history of mankind, successfully climbed 24 miles from a SpaceX launch facility in Texas on Thursday morning. A livestream from the event showed that the rocket exploded amid the stage separation, after which the booster should have turned around and landed on the surface of the Earth.

SpaceX confirmed that the successful launch was followed by a “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” the term for an explosion preferred by chief executive Elon Musk.

“The vehicle experienced multiple engines out during the flight test, lost altitude, and began to tumble,” the company said in a statement. “The flight termination system was commanded on both the booster and ship. As is standard procedure, the pad and surrounding area was cleared well in advance of the test, and we expect the road and beach near the pad to remain closed until tomorrow.”

Musk said that employees “learned a lot” for the next test launch scheduled to occur in a few months. Engineers will indeed “continue to review data” ahead of the next flight, the firm said as executives congratulated team members “on an exciting first integrated flight test of Starship.”

Liftoff of Starship! pic.twitter.com/4t8mRP37Gp

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 20, 2023

Starship is nearly 400 feet long and has a liftoff mass of 5,500 tons. Both the Starship vessel and the Super Heavy booster are powered by Raptor engines, which burn liquid oxygen and liquid methane. The two components of the rocket are each capable of landing themselves on the surface of the Earth, while SpaceX plans to eventually refuel the vessels in low-Earth orbit in between departures to the moon and Mars.

“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and we learned a tremendous amount about the vehicle and ground systems today that will help us improve on future flights of Starship,” the statement from SpaceX continued.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP

The launch on Thursday was the second attempt this week to test Starship. Another launch initially slated for Monday was nixed due to a frozen booster valve. Starship was not carrying any people or satellites on board for the launch.

View of Starship liftoff from South Padre Island pic.twitter.com/JrXCZLrQEy

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 20, 2023

Musk, who recently acquired social media firm Twitter, had provoked unease among SpaceX and Tesla investors concerned he would be distracted from leading the two companies. The billionaire entrepreneur has nevertheless remarked that he continues to oversee Tesla and SpaceX, where the teams “are so good that often little is needed” from him. He intends to reduce the time he spends at Twitter and eventually appoint someone else to run the platform.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX on the integrated test flight. “Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward,” he commented on social media. “Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight test and beyond.”

Musk started SpaceX with the objective of establishing permanent human settlements on Mars. He noted in an interview last year that he works roughly 80 hours each week, an arrangement he finds “pretty sustainable.”

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris responded to the Supreme Court’s ruling on mifepristone.

The White House released statements from both Biden and Harris Friday evening responding to the Supreme Court’s ruling allowing mifepristone for now. The Court ruled on Friday that the FDA’s approval of the abortifacient drug, used in nearly half of abortions nationwide, could remain in place while the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals hears a lawsuit.

“Today, the Supreme Court granted the Department of Justice’s emergency stay application in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, preventing a lower court decision from going into effect that would have undermined FDA’s medical judgment and put women’s health at risk,” Biden’s statement read. “As a result of the Supreme Court’s stay, mifepristone remains available and approved for safe and effective use while we continue this fight in the courts. I continue to stand by FDA’s evidence-based approval of mifepristone, and my Administration will continue to defend FDA’s independent, expert authority to review, approve, and regulate a wide range of prescription drugs.”

“The stakes could not be higher for women across America,” Biden added. “I will continue to fight politically-driven attacks on women’s health. But let’s be clear – the American people must continue to use their vote as their voice, and elect a Congress who will pass a law restoring the protections of Roe v Wade.”

“We welcome the Supreme Court’s decision to grant a stay in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, and our fight to defend reproductive freedom continues,” Harris added in her statement. “The Court’s announcement preserves access to mifepristone—a safe and effective medication that was approved by the FDA more than two decades ago.”

“Our Administration will not waver in our commitment to preserving access to essential medication and defending the FDA’s ability to approve safe and effective drugs,” she continued. “Americans need to look no further than their medicine cabinet to see how many FDA-approved medications are at risk if lower court decisions disregarding the FDA’s scientific judgment are allowed to stand. The President and I will continue to fight to protect a woman’s freedom to make decisions about her own body and access to reproductive health care, including medication abortion. No one should stand between a woman and her doctor.”

On Friday, the nation’s highest court blocked a ruling from a federal judge in Texas that placed restrictions on the FDA’s approval of the drug. The Supreme Court ruled to allow the approval of the drug while a lawsuit proceeds in federal court, granting requests from the Biden administration and the manufacturer.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP

“The applications for stays presented to JUSTICE ALITO and by him referred to the Court are granted,” the Court wrote in its decision. “The April 7, 2023 order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, case No. 2:22–cv–223, is stayed pending disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such a writ is timely sought. Should certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court.”