Starship has been created as a "fully reusable transportation system" which aims to eventually carry crew and cargo into Earth orbit as well as journeys to "the Moon, Mars and beyond", however the billionaire businessman's plan was dealt a massive blow on Thursday (06.03.25) when the latest Starship craft failed just minutes after taking off from the company's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.

In a statement, SpaceX explained: "During Starship's ascent burn, the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost.

"Our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses.

"We will review the data from today's flight test to better understand root cause. As always, success comes from what we learn, and today's flight will offer additional lessons to improve Starship's reliability."

The resulting debris from the break-up of the unmanned craft led to flights from several Florida airports being grounded.

The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) issued a ground notice for multiple flights from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and Orlando. Flights eventually resumed, but with major delays.

The FAA has since opened an investigation into the incident which will need to be competed before SpaceX will be able to launch another Starship.

The failed flight comes just over a month after the previous Starship launch also ended with an explosion shortly after takeoff on January 16.

In a post on X - formerly known as Twitter - SpaceX boss Musk wrote: "Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity."