Minutes after launching from a launchpad in South Texas on Thursday, SpaceX’s Starship rocket blew up above the Gulf of Mexico. Although the spacecraft was unable to enter orbit, it was not a complete disaster.

The company’s founder, Elon Musk, had lowered expectations prior to the launch by stating that it might take several tries for Starship to be successful in this test flight, which was intended to reach speeds high enough to enter orbit before crashing down in the Pacific Ocean close to Hawaii.

The company’s proposal for an uncrewed flight test was approved by the FAA last week, which issues licences for commercial rocket launches.

The Artemis III mission, which might launch as early as 2025, might use SpaceX’s Starship to carry humans from another spacecraft down to the lunar surface. However, SpaceX must demonstrate that Starship is capable of reaching the moon before that mission can launch.

The business will have to refuel the spacecraft while it is still in Earth’s orbit due to the sheer heft of the craft. A single Starship lunar lander may need more than a dozen launches, all carrying nothing but propellant, to have enough fuel to go the 238,900 miles (384,500 km) between Earth and the moon.

Before SpaceX can even hash out that process, it’ll also need to learn to put Starship into orbit in the first place. Today’s test flight only sought to get to near orbital speeds and make a partial lap of the planet.

Mr Musk congratulated the business in a tweet after the unmanned rocket Starship launched.

He claimed that the company has gained a lot of knowledge in preparing for its upcoming test launch, which will take place in a few months.