Verge Staff Elon Musk’s stated goal of putting humans on Mars relies heavily on the development of a next-generation reusable spacecraft, and Starship (formerly known as Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR) attempted its first orbital test flight. It’s not the “six months” goal Musk projected in 2019, but after a number of suborbital tests that included some terrific successes and fantastic, fiery failures, the big day is finally here. According to the original plan, the Starship would fly to orbital velocity after separating from its Super Heavy booster rocket about three minutes into the trip and then splash down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. However, on the first try, at least, things didn’t go to script all the way through. The spacecraft began spiraling and corkscrewing (at least from the perspective of ground cameras) and “experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly” before Starship’s planned separation from the first stage. Image: SpaceX SpaceX founder Elon Musk said in a tweet that the next Starship test will occur “in a few months.” In a statement, SpaceX writes, “The vehicle experienced multiple engines out during the flight test, lost altitude, and began to tumble. The flight termination system was commanded on both the booster and ship.” You can watch how it all went down from SpaceX’s video feed here, cued up to just a few seconds before launch. Read on for all the latest news about SpaceX’s first Starship orbital test flight. Highlights