Watch: SpaceX Starship Test Flight Ends in Explosion on Second Try | WSJ

The fact that they've already improved the problem of other engines turning off is crazy

Amazing progress!

This was an epic flight. Can’t believe all those raptors actually ran through pretty much a full burn. I’d be interested to see where the second stage debris ends up though.

You guys are good at reporting things in the worst possible light.

The explosion is so cool looking, the sheer speed of the gases expanding

I remember how excited I was back in April, seeing it launch for the first time. This one ended up even better with the stage separation. Kudos to the team for the spectacular explosi- rapid unscheduled disassembly

Absolutely terrible headline, for an absolutely phenomenal engineering feat that pushed the envelope in a thousand new ways. Well done SpaceX, absolutely amazing work!

In my opinion, the booster's rotation after separation was too fast. It's possible that the ship's engines slightly damaged the upper part of the booster, adding a wobble during rotation, which led to its explosion. Towards the end of the ship's flight, just before losing control, it seems like the engines were turned off, and it exploded. It's very interesting that the spacecraft burst at the very end of its journey. Regardless, it is a significant success for SpaceX. Starship had been waiting for launch approval for many months, and if everything had gone smoothly, we might have seen 3 or 4 launches by now

It's actually the point of the test - to see where the rocket needs improvement. 8 minutes! Better than the first. Great job Space X!

Astounding test flight to space! Congratulations SpaceX! Can’t wait to see the next one reach orbital velocity!

Amazing, well done to the engineering team!

the whole flight was a resounding success. It's easy to write headlines about how the rocket "exploded" however that misses the mark. all engines worked throughout the entire flight profile, they successfully executed hot staging on starship, successfully hit their projected flight trajectory and displayed a successful use of their flight termination system while also not damaging any of the ground support system at starbase. starship is on its way to being a fully functional rocket system and today serves as a reason to be excited for the future. once in full operation starship has the capability to build space stations that rival science fiction and help spread humanity amongst other planets and moons. everyone at SpaceX has reasons to be incredibly proud today. there is still a lot of work to do but now they have a rocket capable of flight.

One step forward. Congrats Space X. This is an inspiration for humanity to keep going until succeeded.

Congratulations on the successful launch and separation! Even though there were some challenges today, these are giant leaps in mankind’s journey to the stars. Great job!

Incredible engineering feat but sadly loaded with multiple failure points. The Russians learned the hard way developing huge rockets with complicated clusters of engines

That building went up beautifully! Pure genius installing a metal plate that shoots water to keep launchpad intact. looks like they solved separation issue as well. Awesome job!!

Apart from the "unscheduled disassembly", the launch was a major success.

It was a test fly and have improved over last one. However, the pressure to make everything work flawlessly in the 3rd attempt is building up and already very high. I hope, they manage to do it. Because, if they lose the 2 vehicles again in the 3rd attempt, things are going to start to get a bit murky.

On the other hand, Space X and the commentators could be a bit more realistic about the results of the test or at least curb their enthusiasm because losing both vehicles again it is a good reason not to be celebrating and cheering up like it didn't happened at all.

That was absolutely spectacular. Humanity reaching the other sides of the Galaxy is a remarkable development. We are literally just out of the jungle and now we're moving forward. Kudos to the team!

This was a much better launch than the previous, yes, all 33 raptors 2s ignited and remained constant throughout their full duration, and the hot stage ring was a success!