Elon Musk Congratulates SpaceX Team After Rocket Explodes Minutes After Launch: 'Learned a Lot'

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk congratulated the team "on an exciting test launch" in a tweet shortly after the Starship exploded over the Gulf of Mexico

An uncrewed SpaceX rocket exploded just minutes after launch on Thursday, and CEO Elon Musk says it's been a learning opportunity.

SpaceX's Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, blasted off in Texas just after 8:30 a.m. local time. Although though the rocket made it off the launchpad, it failed to reach orbit and exploded a few minutes later over the Gulf of Mexico, according to The New York Times.

Still, that didn't stop Musk from congratulating the team "on an exciting test launch."

In a message on Twitter, the social media platform he owns, Musk said that they've "learned a lot" for the "next test launch," which he said would take place in a few months.

Related: SpaceX Successfully Launches and Lands Starship — a Milestone in Elon Musk's Quest for Mars

SpaceX had similarly positive things to say about the launch on social media.

"As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation," the company wrote on Twitter.

"​​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," they added. "Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting first integrated flight test of Starship!"

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The company received another congratulatory message from NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. (NASA awarded a $2.89 billion contract to SpaceX in 2021 to help them land astronauts on the Moon.)

"Congrats to @SpaceX on Starship's first integrated flight test! Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward," Nelson wrote. "Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight test—and beyond."

During SpaceX's broadcast of the launch, cheers and applause could be heard as the rocket exploded.

"Obviously we wanted to make it all the way through, but to get this far honestly is amazing," an official said.

Related:NASA Launches Artemis 1 Mission, Paving Way for Astronauts' Return to the Moon

Another official explained that this was a "development test" and that the goal was to "clear the pad" and then "get ready to go again."

They went on to explain that the rocket's flight path "was designed to be over water" and that they would be working with local authorities on recovery.

If successful, the spacecraft would have completed a partial orbit around the Earth, traveling about 150 miles above the planet's surface, per CNN.

When the flight was done, it would have ended with a splashdown near Hawaii.

Related:Jellyfish Cloud' Takes Over Sky in Photographer's Stunning Image of SpaceX Launch

The company hopes that the Starship rocket will one day be able to travel to Mars, which has long been one of Musk's goals.

Although NASA previously said that they believed crewed missions to Mars could become reality "as early as the 2030s," Musk has said as recently as last year that he believes the trip may be possible on a slightly faster timeline.

"Best case is about five years, worst case 10 years," he said during a podcast appearance in December 2021.

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