On April 20th, 2023, the most powerful rocket ever built by humanity launched. The company SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, produced and launched the rocket.

At 9:33 AM in southern Texas, the rocket took off from its launchpad, experiencing about two minutes of uninterrupted flight before issues arose. The rocket first began to slowly turn asymmetrically. Another issue was that the first stage engines, which were meant to be released from the rocket a few minutes after launch, never detached.

 At four minutes after launch, the rocket had exploded midair. Thankfully, the launch was unmanned and no spectators were harmed by debris or the massive dust cloud created by the rocket. However, this massive dust cloud damaged cars and the habitats of nearby wildlife. The rocket also heavily damaged its launchpad after takeoff. 

Both SpaceX and Musk took to Twitter to claim the mission was a success. SpaceX claimed the rocket experienced a ¨rapid unscheduled disassembly,¨ causing it to explode. According to Musk, the rocket was only intended to leave the launchpad without causing too much damage to the rocket. Musk also claimed that the test was exciting, seemingly downplaying the rocket’s explosion.

SpaceX announced its intention of continuing rocket tests in the near future. SpaceX will, however, need support and approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to launch again. After witnessing the quick destruction of the other rocket, the FAA will likely be hesitant to grant permission to SpaceX to launch future rockets.