Elon Musk congratulates SpaceX team moments after Starship’s explosion

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk touted his company’s latest launch test of its Starship rocket despite the fact that it blew up mid-air just minutes after takeoff.

The 500-foot-tall Starship, took off Thursday at 9:28 a.m. in Boca Chica, Texas, but the rocket failed to separate from its booster and began spinning before exploding 18 miles above the earth.

“Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!,” Musk tweeted following the explosion. “Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.”

The failure comes more than a month after Musk warned that there was only a 50% chance for the rocket making it in one piece.

Musk predicted that even if the rocket were to fail as it did, it “won’t be boring,” referencing the spectacle of the exploding rocket.

The test launches for the Starship rockets began two years ago, with three ships previously exploding in mid-air and a fourth sticking the landing before it blew up.

A fifth attempt proved successful after a Starship prototype flew 33,000 feet and was able to land upright and gently on its landing pad.

Starship is part of SpaceX’s line of vessels poised to be the world’s first fully reusable orbital rockets, with both the ship and its 230-foot-tall booster designed to land themselves back on Earth after the flight.