Major flight test milestones are achieved by SpaceX’s Starship, which breaks apart over the Indian Ocean in the last seconds

SpaceX broke new ground in the building of the massive vehicle on Thursday when it launched its Starship rocket on its third test flight and into orbit.

Starship was launched by Elon Musk’s firm from its Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas, at around 9:25 a.m. ET.

The rocket traveled farther than in earlier testing, and Starship broke apart above the Indian Ocean after approximately an hour of flight. The anticipated conclusion of the flight was not achieved by the vehicle splashing down in the sea, as reported by the business.

The flight is a major step toward SpaceX’s goal of finishing prototype testing and starting commercial Starship missions.

Shortly after the launch, Musk announced that «Starship reached orbital velocity!» and praised his firm.

Additionally, SpaceX was commended «on a successful test flight!» by NASA Chief Bill Nelson.

With its entirely reusable design, the Starship system seeks to replace current means of transporting people and goods beyond Earth. The rocket is also essential to NASA’s goal of sending humans back to the moon. As part of NASA’s Artemis moon mission, SpaceX was awarded a multibillion dollar contract by the organization to employ Starship as a crewed lunar lander.