SpaceX Starship rocket, just running for launch. “Contact was lost and it exploded during flight in the second stage.”

Better than the first launch, but also than the second test of the giant rocket SpaceXElon Musk’s company closes its doors with a bang.

The rocket took off from South Texas at 2 p.m. ET on a test flight, seven months after the first attempt ended in an explosion. The 121-meter Starship rocket was launched into the sky and described an arc over the Gulf of Mexico. The goal was to separate the spacecraft from its booster and send it into space. The goal was achieved, the separation was carried out, but Musk had to admit that it lost contact with the module on the second leg of the flight. The two units exploded after separation.

SpaceX was aiming to reach an altitude of 150 miles, enough to send the bullet-shaped spacecraft around the world before it plunges into the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii about an hour and a half after liftoff.

The spacecraft is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. Its maiden flight in April lasted four minutes, and its wreckage fell into the bay. Since then, Elon Musk’s company has made dozens of improvements to the rocket, its 33 engines and the launch pad.

SpaceX’s Elon Musk intends to use a fleet of them Taking people to the moon and Mars.