A SpaceX Starship's upper stage exploded minutes after launch from Texas on Thursday, and the rocket was declared a "loss" in the seventh test flight of the heavy-lift spacecraft. The mission was unmanned.

A SpaceX Starship rocket broke up in space minutes after launching from Texas on Thursday, forcing airline flights over the Gulf of Mexico to alter course to avoid falling debris and setting back Elon Musk's flagship rocket program.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a launch license for the next Starship flight test on Dec. 17, clearing the way for SpaceX to once again launch the world's largest rocket from south Texas. Ever since, SpaceX has been rapidly preparing for the seventh overall flight test of the 400-foot-tall Starship.

If there is a leader in the aerospace industry, SpaceX is it. The company's Crew Dragon and Cargo Dragon spacecrafts are the current go-to vehicles to deliver astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station.

A SpaceX Starship prototype failed in space on Thursday, minutes after launching from Texas, setting back the company's speedy rocket development efforts in a mission that was expected to debut a key satellite deployment demonstration.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made light of Starship's fiery end. "Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!" he said on X.

Elon Musk's SpaceX launched a pair of Falcon 9 rockets loaded with a combined four dozen Starlink communication satellites into space Tuesday morning from both U.S. coasts.

SpaceX plans to build a new vertical integration facility in Florida by Aug. 2026 for Starship assembly and integration.

The SpaceX test flight is scheduled for this afternoon. See the full schedule with times, and how to watch the Starship launch from Boca Chica.

SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket is slated to launch for the seventh time on Thursday in a crucial test of its ability to carry and place satellites into orbit.

SpaceX for the third time scrubbed plans to launch 27 more Starlink internet satellites into low-Earth orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California with an earlier one postponed because of a Delta jet nearby.

Elon Musk's SpaceX's Starship test flight ended in failure as the spacecraft exploded and broke apart, following a suspected fuel leak in the engine firewall.