Washington, May 28 -- SpaceX faced another challenge on Sunday as its ninth Starship test flight ended in failure, with the rocket exploding over the Indian Ocean just 30 minutes after liftoff from Texas. The uncrewed test was part of Elon Musk's ambitious plan to eventually send humans to Mars.

The rocket had been expected to release mock satellites, but a malfunctioning payload bay door disrupted the mission. Despite the setback, Musk described the flight as a "big improvement" over previous tests.

In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Musk revealed that Starship successfully reached the point of scheduled engine cutoff and maintained its heat shield during ascent. However, leaks during the coasting and re-entry phases caused ...