SpaceX's gigantic Starship rocket lifted off safely on Thursday, but it detonated minutes later.
Elon Musk's firm, SpaceX, described the incident as a "rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation."
There were no personnel or satellites on the approximately 400-foot-tall rocket.
"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," added SpaceX.
The launch, which took place off the coast of Texas, was momentarily postponed on Thursday.
The countdown clock was stopped at 40 seconds as crews evaluated the rocket's technical aspects. Minutes later, the time was reset, and the rocket took off.
It's unclear whether the technical problems that caused the delay had anything to do with the rocket bursting.
Despite the evident issue, SpaceX seemed happy with their efforts thus far.
"Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting first integrated flight test of Starship," declared the corporation.
This was SpaceX's second rocket launch attempt. Due to technical challenges, a previously scheduled launch was cancelled earlier this week.
"Starship will be capable of carrying up to 100 people on long-duration interplanetary flights," says SpaceX.