SpaceX on Thursday tested its next-generation rocket designed for missions to the moon and Mars, ending in an explosion amid cheers from employees who gathered to watch a live stream of the launch.

"Starship just experienced what we call a rapid unscheduled disassembly, or a RUD, during ascent," said SpaceX engineer John Insprucker, serving as a launch commentator on the company's webcast.

"Now this was a development test, this was the first test flight of Starship, and the goal is to gather the data and as we said, clear the pad and get ready to go again. So you never know exactly what's going to happen, but as we promised, excitement is guaranteed! Starship gave us a rather spectacular end to what was truly an incredible test."

The stainless steel space vessel – composed of a spacecraft sitting atop the so-called Super Heavy booster rocket – took off from the launch site at Boca Chica, Texas in the US on Thursday morning.

It appeared that the two sections of the rocket system – the booster and cruise vessel – were unable to separate properly after take-off, possibly causing the spacecraft to fail.

At least five of its 33 Raptor engines did not appear to fire upon lift-off, said Stephen Clark, with SpaceflightNow.com. The rocket cleared the launch tower and headed into the sky.

However, the spacecraft failed to separate from the Super Heavy booster, with the entire vessel spinning before falling apart – in what is technically called a “rapid unscheduled disassembly”.

The behemoth launching system was 120 metres (394 feet) tall, higher than New York City’s Statue of Liberty.

Image source: Reuters