Elon Musk's SpaceX launched its sixth Starship test flight to space on Tuesday, November 19, from Texas, eyeing an array of improvements on the rocket as US President-elect Donald Trump watched in person.
The roughly 400-foot-tall (122-meter-tall) rocket system, designed to ultimately land astronauts on the moon and ferry crews to Mars, lifted off at 4 p.m. CT (2200 GMT) from SpaceX's sprawling rocket development site in Boca Chica, Texas.
The first stage, called Super Heavy, unexpectedly made a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico instead of attempting to return to its launchpad, indicating something went wrong.
SPACEX / US NETWORK POOL
