‘Phenomenally successful’: SpaceX launches world’s biggest rocket

BOCA CHICA, Texas (WFLA) — SpaceX launched the world’s biggest rocket in Texas on Thursday morning.

The rocket launched from Boca Chica, Texas around 9:25 a.m. ET. SpaceX said the weather was 70 percent favorable for the flight test. SpaceX said its team had to delay the launch by about an hour due to a few boats being in the keep out area in the Gulf of Mexico.

The company said this was the third test flight of the Starship. The company said it wanted to build on what it had learned from the previous two flights.

SpaceX hoped this Starship launch would include the ascent burn of both stages, opening and closing Starship’s payload door, a propellant transfer demonstration during the upper stage’s coast phase, the first ever re-light of a Raptor engine while in space, and a controlled reentry of Starship.

A SpaceX spokesperson called the launch “phenomenally successful.”

According to SpaceX, the Starship will fly a new trajectory which will have it splash down in the Indian Ocean.

“This new flight path enables us to attempt new techniques like in-space engine burns while maximizing public safety,” SpaceX said in a news release.

In previous test flights, the super heavy rocket booster exploded shortly after launch.

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