Alex Therrien
Live reporter

At the start of the day the question on the lips of those following Starship's planned test launch was whether lift off would even happen. On Monday, a first launch of SpaceX's rocket - the most powerful ever built - was halted because of a frozen valve. So when Starship's launch on Thursday was paused moments before blast-off, it felt like deja-vu.

Then there was lift-off. Starship blasted off into the Texas sky, but minutes into its flight it exploded after its booster failed to separate.

Despite the explosion, SpaceX will still see the launch as a success that can be built on, as our science correspondent Jonathan Amos notes. SpaceX founder Elon Musk said there would be another test flight in a matter of months. We'll be here again when that happens.

Thanks for joining our live coverage today. The page was edited by me and Jamie Whitehead, and the writers were Marita Moloney, Jasmine Andersson, and Ece Goksedef.

If you want to read more about the launch, our story is here. And you can learn more about what Starship is here.

Marita Moloney
Live reporter

What was supposed to happen: The most powerful rocket ever built was scheduled to launch from Boca Chica, Texas at 08:28 local time. SpaceX's most optimistic expectation was a 90-minute debut flight into space but just shy of Earth orbit.

If Starship works, the rocket system will be used to take people and cargo into orbit, to the Moon and maybe even Mars. Elon Musk said getting the vehicle off the ground and not destroying the launch pad infrastructure would be considered "a win".

What actually happened: Well, it did launch: After a brief hold, Starship lifted off from its launch tower and into the sky. But after less than four minutes into the flight, its bottom half - the Super Heavy Booster - failed to separate from the top part, leading an explosion in the air.

Image source, Getty Images

So was it a "win"? "Success comes from what we learn," SpaceX said shortly after the flight. Engineers were heard cheering after the rocket cleared its launch pad, and the company said it was an "exciting first integrated flight test of Starship".

What's next? SpaceX said the flight would provide important data for future tests, a sentiment shared by Musk, who congratulated the team. As for what we can expect from SpaceX's future plans, Musk said the next test launch would be "in a few months".

Image source, Reuters

NASA chief Bill Nelson has tweeted to congratulate SpaceX on Starship's "first integrated flight test".

"Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward," he said., external

"Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight test - and beyond."

Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the European Space Agency, also congratulated the company, calling today's test, external "an impressive step".

"Lift off IS an incredible success! Great lessons learned. I am confident that SpaceX will quickly resolve issues and get back to the launchpad soon."

Alys Davies
Live reporter

Image source, Rosell Elizondo

Seeing Starship launch gave Jimmy San Miguel "butterflies", he says.

He and his wife, Rosell Elizondo, were up at 02:00 (08:00 BST) this morning to travel to Isla Blanca park to get a good spot to watch the launch.

"When it took off it sounded like the Superbowl, everybody started cheering and laughing," Rosell says, adding that she was full of adrenaline.

Self-described "space geeks", the couple have been to many of SpaceX's launches, including the Starhopper launch in 2019.

"We've been here since the beginning", Rosell says.

Image source, EPA

Earlier we saw SpaceX founder Elon Musk sitting in the company control room as his team prepared for the Starship's launch.

Afterwards, Musk tweeted his congratulations to the team for "an exciting test launch".

While the Starship did explode a few minutes after take-off, Musk said his team "learned a lot for the next test launch in a few months".

Image source, EPA

One minute and 15 seconds after the launch, the SpaceX stream showed the visuals from the camera below the Starship.

And in this grab, it shows only 27 of the 33 engines it has lighting up.

Image source, SpaceX

So far there is no word on the number of engines that were firing at the moment of liftoff, although by mid-test it was cleaer six engines had shut down

SpaceX conducted a successful test-firing of the 33 massive Raptor engines on the first-stage booster in February but the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy rocket were being flown together for the first time today.

Image source, SpaceX

The gigantic rocket successfully blasted off from Texas, but exploded minutes later when booster separation failed.

Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent

Starship took off on time, it took a little while to get off the pad, it was very slow getting away.

It appeared as though when the rocket was climbing up through the sky that some of the engines on the base of the Super Heavy Booster weren't firing. I counted six, out of 33.

Engineers may have made the decision just to shut them down.

They went through Max-Q - the moment when the aerodynamic loads on the vehicle are at their greatest - they survived that, they continued on going.

But it was at that key moment when the bottom half of the rocket -- the Super Heavy Booster - is supposed to separate from the top half of the ship and go on by itself up into space.

They didn't separate, and then the vehicle went into a spin, started to go out of control, and at that point the computers probably triggered the flight termination system.

SpaceX will be thrilled with how far they got - they didn't destroy the launch pad, they got clear and they got tonnes of data.

I think for a first go, they will be amazed at what they achieved. They already have another rocket virtually ready to go, and that rocket has a huge range of improvements on what they learned building this one.

SpaceX owner Elon Musk has commented on today's launch in the last few minutes, adding that another attempt will be made "in a few months".

"Congrats SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months," he says., external

Starship exploded minutes into the flight, but as we've been reporting, engineers still class the launch as a success, and say they will review the data collected as they work towards the next test.

Elon Musk's SpaceX firm - which is trying to develop a re-usable space vehicle - declared today's unmanned test flight a success, because the rocket did clear the tower.

"Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test," SpaceX say.

"With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary."

Rebecca Morelle
Science editor

What a launch - seeing Starship head skywards, its 33 engines burning as it slowly pushed upwards into the blue Texan sky, was quite something. It passed a key point - clearing the tower and not blowing up the launch pad infrastructure.

So far so good.

But it was at the point where the booster tried to separate from the upper stage that things went wrong. The booster started tumbling, then boom - it was gone.

SpaceX call this a rapid unscheduled disassembly. But even though the company wanted this test to go further, they won’t call this a failure.

There were still cheers at SpaceX HQ even when the rocket went up in smoke. The fact that the rocket got off the ground is a start - they’ll assess what went right and what went wrong - and then have another go.

More now from SpaceX on what happened in the last few moments, after Starship lifted-off but exploded minutes into its flight.

"As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation."

Marita Moloney
Live reporter

The Starship test flight is now over, after experiencing what engineers have called a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" during ascent.

"To make it this far is amazing," engineers say, after the rocket cleared its tower and successfully lifted off.

"You never know what's going to happen," they say, adding that "Starship gave us an exciting end to an incredible test".

We should have had a separation by now, SpaceX engineers say.

"Starship has cleared the pad and beach! Vehicle is on a nominal flight path," SpaceX tweets., external

The most powerful rocket ever developed has left the launch pad, with a massive roar as 33 engines on the Super Heavy booster power it skywards.

Rebecca Morelle
Science editor

It's not unusual to have a brief hold like this - it's not clear where they'll reset the countdown clock to. There's a lot that needs to go right to get this rocket off the ground.

The SpaceX flight director "has called a hold". We're waiting to see whether it will lift off in the next few seconds.