SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket is prepared for launch at the company's Boca Chica launch pad in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., November 18, 2024. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo
(Reuters) -Elon Musk's SpaceX launched its giant Starship rocket to space from Texas on Tuesday, advancing the ship's spaceflight abilities but botching an attempt to bring its booster back to land as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump watched from the company's rocket facilities.
The roughly 400-foot-tall (122-meter-tall) rocket system, designed to land astronauts on the moon and ferry crews to Mars, lifted off at 4 p.m. CT (2200 GMT) from SpaceX's sprawling rocket development site in Boca Chica, Texas.
