To follow FLORIDA TODAY Space Team live coverage of Tuesday's mission, visit floridatoday.com/space starting about 90 minutes before liftoff.

The rocket company said the space vehicle came apart during its ascent. Videos posted to social media showed debris streaking through the sky.

One just launched the world’s biggest rocket, with mixed success. The other makes small model rockets for hobbyists, and it’s stockpiling supplies ahead of Trump’s tariffs.

Dramatic footage showing streaks of light zipping across the sky surfaced online following Elon Musk's Starship explosion over the Atlantic Ocean.

The "rapid unscheduled disassembly" was likely caused by a propellant leak, Elon Musk said, and was captured on video by spectators on the ground.

SpaceX said a leak may have caused a fire in Starship’s upgraded Block 2 upper stage, leading to the loss of the vehicle during the super-heavy lift launch system’s seventh test flight, while also signaling it would press ahead with plans for another mission in weeks.

A fire in the aft section of SpaceX's Starship trigged the apparent explosion that destroyed the spacecraft, the company says.

Recent science news covers SpaceX's Starship explosion, a new scent for sniffer dogs aiding cold cases, a Pompeii excavation, and US FAA's investigation into rocket debris in Turks and Caicos. Highlights include a test payload mishap,

The Federal Aviation Administration has paused SpaceX's the launch of its Starship rocket as the U.S. agency oversees an investigation by the private company of the breakup after a test launch Thursday.

The upper stage of SpaceX's Starship rocket exploded minutes after launch from Texas on Thursday, leading the aerospace company to declare the vessel a "loss" in the seventh test flight of the heavy-lift spacecraft.

The incident in which a SpaceX rocket broke up after launch demonstrates the challenges the FAA will face as the number of commercial space flights increases.