Elon Musk's SpaceX Starship has completed its first vertical landing, only to explode minutes after the successful touchdown.
The prototype, called SN10, was the third Starship to run a high-altitude flight test, but only the first to nail the landing.
Two other prototypes, the SN8 and SN9, both met fiery ends after crashing into the ground during test flights in recent months.
The launch at Boca Chica, Texas, was streamed live by SpaceX, but its broadcast ended before the explosion.
In the stream, the full-scale prototype soared more than 10 kilometres into the air, descending horizontally and then flipping upright to land.
SpaceX commentator John Insprucker declared: "Third time's a charm, as the saying goes" as the ship touched back down to Earth.
But minutes later, the Starship exploded and was tossed in the air, before slamming into the ground in flames.
There was no immediate comment from SpaceX on what went wrong.
But Musk looked on the bright side, writing "Starship 10 landed in one piece!" on Twitter.
"RIP SN10, honourable discharge," he said.
Mr Musk plans to use Starships to send people to the Moon and Mars.
Each of the last three test flights lasted six minutes and 30 seconds.
ABC/AP
