SpaceX's Starship, the giant, most powerful rocket ever built, designed to send astronauts to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, successfully blasted off on its first test flight Thursday but exploded minutes after rising from the launch pad.

SpaceX’s giant new rocket blasted off on its first test flight Thursday but failed minutes after rising from the launch pad.

The Starship capsule had been scheduled to separate from the first-stage rocket booster three minutes into the flight but separation failed to occur and the rocket blew up.

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

Elon Musk’s company was aiming to send the nearly 400-foot (120-meter) Starship rocket on a round-the-world trip from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. It carried no people or satellites, both the booster and spacecraft on top were to be ditched into the sea.

Throngs of spectators watched from South Padre Island, several miles from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off-limits. Space’s first try to launch the rocket was called off Monday because of a stuck valve in the rocket during fueling.

The company plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars. NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys.