SpaceX said its Starship space vehicle broke up during a flight meant to test the megarocket's capabilities. Videos on social media appeared to show debris streaming across the sky.

By Joey Roulette WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A SpaceX Starship rocket broke up in space minutes after launching from Texas on Thursday, forcing airline flights over the Gulf of Mexico to alter course to avoid falling debris and setting back Elon Musk's flagship rocket program.

Elon Musk's SpaceX's Starship test flight ended in failure as the spacecraft exploded and broke apart, following a suspected fuel leak in the engine firewall.

Starship experienced a "rapid unscheduled disassembly," which is a phrase SpaceX coined to describe an explosion.

La nave espacial Starship sufrió un “desmontaje rápido e imprevisto durante su ascenso”, confirmó Space X tras las fallas en el vuelo de prueba.

Video footage showed orange balls of light streaking across the sky over the Haitian capital of Port-Au-Prince, leaving trails of smoke behind.

Donald Trump's newly-created cryptocurrency soared on Monday to nearly $12 billion in market value, drawing in billions in trading volume, while bitcoin hit a record high just hours ahead of the U.S. President-elect's return to the White House.

Elon Musk’s company revealed that the spacecraft’s six engines shut down one by one, leading to the loss of contact and the mission’s abrupt end. The spacecraft was supposed to soar across the Gulf of Mexico from Texas on a near loop around the world similar to previous test flights.

SpaceX is preparing for Starship's seventh flight test Monday afternoon from Starbase in Boca Chica near Brownsville. See the full launch schedule.

Telemetry from the Starship froze just more than 8 minutes after launch from Texas, moments after engines began shutting down.

Among the first executive orders signed by President Trump was an order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America."

A SpaceX Starship prototype failed in space minutes after launching from Texas yesterday, forcing airline flights over the Gulf of Mexico to alter course