SpaceX Starship launched on third test flight after last two blew up

The SpaceX Starship, a futuristic craft designed to eventually send astronauts to the moon and beyond, roared into the sky from Texas on Thursday, a third test launch for Elon Musk's company that has carried it farther than two previous flights that ended with explosions.

The two-stage rocketship, taller than the Statue of Liberty, blasted off from the company's Starbase launch site near Boca Chica on the Gulf Coast of Texas near Brownsville, on an uncrewed flight to space. It executed a key stage-separation maneuver nearly three minutes later, 44 miles (72 km) in altitude.

The test mission, lasting far longer than previous attempts last year, marked only the third attempt to fly Starship mounted atop its towering Super Heavy rocket booster. Both were designed and built by SpaceX, the rocket and satellite company founded in 2002 by billionaire entrepreneur Musk.

The Starship was coasting in space 15 minutes after lifting off, and is expected to begin its atmospheric reentry roughly 50 minutes into the mission.