Watch: Elon Musks SN9 Starship test flight & explosion

A prototype SpaceX rocket crashed in a fireball on Tuesday as it attempted to land during a test fight—in an incident captured on video.

The stainless steel Starship prototype launched from SpaceX’s Boca Chica facility near Brownsville, Texas, at 2:35 p.m. local time. But technical issues resulted in the rocket, dubbed SN9 or “Serial Number 9,” crashing into the ground and exploding around six minutes after launch.

A prototype of SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft is seen at the company’s Texas launch facility on September 28, 2019 in Boca Chica near Brownsville, Texas.
LOREN ELLIOTT/GETTY IMAGES

The incident comes just two months after the previous Starship prototype—known as SN8—met a similar fate during another test flight. Despite the crashes, SpaceX considers the past two test flights to have been partially successful, providing the company with valuable data that will help to improve its future prototypes.