A prototype of SpaceX's rocket, Starship, exploded during its maiden launch last night, ahead of the Falcon 9 launch later today.
The prototype Serial Number 4 burst into a fireball at SpaceX's Boca Chica site in south Texas moments after the engine was ignited for a pressurized test.
The failed launch comes just two days after Elon Musk's company had to abort the Falcon 9 launch of two NASA astronauts from Florida's Kennedy Space Center.
The mission, called ‘Launch America,’ was set to take astronauts Robert Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station.
But just 16 minutes and 54 seconds before takeoff, the mission was aborted.
The adverse weather conditions meant that the milestone mission had to be cancelled and was rescheduled for 3.22pm on Saturday.
If it is successful, it would be the first time American astronauts have been launched from US soil in nine years.
Starship, a rocket standing 394 feet tall, is designed to carry humans and 100 tons of cargo to the moon and Mars.
It is the space company's planned next-generation fully reusable launch vehicle, the center of Musk's ambitions to make human space travel affordable.
The south Texas facility sits near a small neighbourhood that SpaceX has been trying to buy up for testing space, but some residents have pushed back on the company's offers and have accused Musk's attorneys of unrealistically low property appraisals.
SpaceX was among the three companies awarded a combined $1billion by NASA last month to develop rocket systems capable of ferrying cargo and humans to the moon.
SpaceX proposed Starship for the award.
The FAA granted the space company a license Thursday to begin Starship's first suborbital flight tests, though it was unclear when those tests would occur.
