SpaceX's Starship prototype explodes 6 minutes after takeoff

In this screen grab from video posted by SpaceX, the company's Starship launches for a test flight, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020, in a remote area of Texas. (SpaceX via AP)

A prototype of SpaceX's rocket Starship crashed in a fiery explosion during a test launch along the Texas coast on December 9. The company plans to use the final version of the rocket for Mars missions. Despite the catastrophic finale, CEO Elon Musk was thrilled and tweeted, “Mars, here we come!!”

SpaceX founder said that a too-fast landing speed was the reason behind the crash. "Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD, but we got all the data we needed!," Musk tweeted.

Congrats SpaceX team hell yeah!!, he added.

Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD, but we got all the data we needed! Congrats SpaceX team hell yeah!!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2020

The entire flight lasted six minutes and 42 seconds.

The test flight was planned to check the huge metal body of SN8 (Starship Number 8) and its three engines for aerodynamism, including during the ship's return to Earth, which happens vertically, in the same vein as SpaceX's pioneering Falcon 9 rocket.

"With a test such as this, success is not measured by completion of specific objectives but rather how much we can learn, which will inform and improve the probability of success in the future as SpaceX rapidly advances the development of Starship," a statement on the company's website said, implying even before the launch that an explosion or crash would not mean a failed mission.

The experimental flight took off in a nearly deserted part of southern Texas on the Gulf of Mexico near the US-Mexican border.

SpaceX intends to use Starship to put massive satellites into orbit around Earth, besides delivering people and cargo to the Moon and Mars. Earlier this year, SpaceX was one of three prime contractors chosen by NASA to develop lunar landers capable of getting astronauts on the moon by 2024.