
Starship is the biggest, most powerful rocket ever built, and is key to Musk’s ambitions of colonising Mars.
Thursday’s uncrewed launch was Starship’s seventh test mission, and the first involving a taller, upgraded version of the rocket.
The Starship upper stage, two metres (6.56 ft) taller than previous versions, was a “new generation ship with significant upgrades”, SpaceX said before the test.
It was due to make a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean roughly an hour after its launch from Boca Chica, Texas.