It’s been a bittersweet morning for SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk, with his Starship rocket launching but being blown up in its first take off.

• Scroll down for footage of the explosion

The Starship — the world largest and most powerful rocket — lifted off from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico on its first test flight into orbit, before spiralling and failing to separate from the booster. The decision was then made to blow it up in what the company called a “rapid unscheduled disassembly”.

Press PLAY below to hear what happened + why SpaceX is calling the launch a success

“It is absolutely massive, so the concern given that the weight load on it could also be around 100 or 150 tonne, is that if all of that comes back to earth at the speed it went up then that’s going to cause a significant problem,” 9News reporter on the scene, Jonathan Kersley, told Ross and Russel.

Despite the problems, SpaceX employees were at pains to stress the launch was successful.

SpaceX is planning another launch in coming months.

Press PLAY below to see the explosion

Image: SpaceX