Spectators watch SpaceX's Starship launch

SpaceX’s giant new rocket exploded minutes after blasting off on its first test flight and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. Elon Musk’s company was aiming Thursday to send Starship on a round-the-world trip from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border.

The biggest and most powerful rocket ever built carried no people or satellites. SpaceX plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, ultimately, Mars. Throngs of spectators watched from several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off-limits.