FOG BLOG U.S. NEWS LOG: SPACEX FALCON 9 ROCKET BLOWS UP MINUTES AFTER TAKE-OFF!

SpaceX Starship rocket launch ends in midair explosion minutes after liftoff.....SpaceX's huge Starship rocket, the most powerful ever built, blasted off on an unpiloted maiden flight Thursday and successfully flew for more than two minutes before tumbling out of control and exploding in a cloud of flaming debris.

"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."

Tweeted SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who monitored launch from the SpaceX control center in Boca Chica, Texas: "Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months."