SpaceX’s Starship V3 exploded in a dramatic fireball after splashing down in the Indian Ocean at the end of its first uncrewed test flight. The towering rocket blasted off on Friday evening, 22 May, from SpaceX’s Starbase site near Brownsville, Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico.

Elon Musk's SpaceX has launched the biggest-ever Starship rocket a day after the highly anticipated test flight was delayed.

The mission served as the much-anticipated debut of SpaceX’s third-generation megarocket, a heavily redesigned, souped-up vehicle configuration officially dubbed Version 3 (V3).