In Pictures: SpaceX's Starship, The World’s Most Powerful Launch Vehicle Lifting Off From Starbase

SpaceX’s huge Starship spacecraft exploded during its second major test flight on Saturday but achieved new milestones that advance Elon Musk’s crucial deep-space launch system. 

As the Starship spacecraft was heading to near orbit, it appeared to burst apart on an X live stream, Bloomberg reported. Later, the hosts of the live stream said that Starship likely had been lost, believing that the vehicle’s flight termination system activated while the vehicle was attempting to reach near orbit, the report said.

"Starship successfully lifted off under the power of all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy Booster and made it through stage separation. The booster experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly shortly after stage separation while Starship's engines fired for several minutes on its way to space," SpaceX said.

“Today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary.”

The Elon Musk-owned company on Monday shared stunning images of the "world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, powered by 33 Raptor engines, lifting off from Starbase." Take a look:

Elon Musk on Monday said that he inspected the Starship launch pad and "it is in great condition."

"No refurbishment needed to the water-cooled steel plate for next launch. Congrats to SpaceX team and contractors for engineering & building such a robust system so rapidly!" he said.

Responding to a X user, Musk said that Starship Flight 3 hardware should be ready to fly in 3 to 4 weeks. "There are three ships in final production in the high bay (as can be seen from the highway)," Musk said.

Walter Isaacson, author of the book Elon Musk's biography in a post on X said that Starship is "designed to carry 100 people to Mars." Starship is almost 400 feet (120 meters) tall and weighs 11 million pounds (4.9 million kilograms).