Starship megarocket blows up over Indian Ocean in latest bumpy test

South Padre Island, United States: SpaceX s prototypeStarshipexploded over the Indian Ocean on Tuesday, capping another bumpy test flight for the rock...

South Padre Island, United States: SpaceX's prototype Starship exploded over the Indian Ocean on Tuesday, capping another bumpy test flight for the rocket central to billionaire Elon Musk's dream of colonizing Mars.

The biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built lifted off around 6:36 pm (2336 GMT) from the company's Starbase facility, near a southern Texas village that earlier this month voted to become a city -- also named Starbase.

Excitement ran high among SpaceX engineers and spectators alike, after the last two outings ended with the upper stage disintegrating in fiery cascades over the Caribbean.

But signs of trouble emerged quickly: the first-stage Super Heavy booster blew up instead of executing its planned splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

A live feed then showed the upper-stage spaceship failing to open its doors to deploy a payload of Starlink satellite "simulators."