SpaceX’s Starship 12 rocket had a successful launch Friday night, before concluding its test run around the Earth with a planned fireball explosion as it splashed down in the Indian Ocean.
The rocket’s launch — the largest and most powerful of its kind — took place at around 6:30 p.m. EST and was deemed a success by SpaceX.
A planned launch was aborted Thursday night.
SpaceX confirmed that the fireball eruption was planned since they don’t plan on reutilizing the experimental spacecraft.
Following the launch, the aerospace company founded by Elon Musk began critical trials before NASA can use the third version of Starship to launch astronauts to the moon and beyond.
The launch cost Starship one of its six new ‘Raptor’ engines and was forced to burn the remaining five engines longer to compensate.
The sprawling rocket was able to complete a majority of its planned mission and successfully reentered the Earth’s atmosphere before landing in the ocean.
