Elon Musk's SpaceX successfully launched its next-generation Starship cruise vessel for the first time atop the company's powerful new Super Heavy rocket on Thursday, in an uncrewed test flight that ended minutes later with the vehicle exploding in the sky.
The two-stage rocketship, standing taller than the Statue of Liberty at 120 metres high, blasted off from the company's Starbase spaceport and test facility east of Brownsville, Texas, for what SpaceX hoped, at best, would be a 90-minute debut flight into space.
A live SpaceX webcast of the lift-off showed the rocket rising from the launch tower into the morning sky as the Super Heavy's raptor engines roared to life in a ball of flame and billowing clouds of exhaust and water vapor.
But less than four minutes into the flight, the upper-stage Starship failed to separate as designed from the lower-stage Super Heavy, and the combined vehicle was seen flipping end over end before exploding.
Nevertheless, SpaceX officials on the webcast cheered the feat of getting the fully integrated Starship and booster rocket off the ground for a clean launch and delared the brief episode a successful test flight.
The bodies of 19 people were recovered after the rubber migrant boat they were in sank off the eastern Libyan coast, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.
A cyberattack targeting a service provider for check-in and boarding systems has disrupted operations at several European airports, causing flight delays and cancellations at airports in Brussels and Berlin, the operators said.
Three Russian military jets on Friday violated NATO member Estonia's airspace for 12 minutes in an "unprecedentedly brazen" incursion, its government said, amid rising tensions on the alliance's eastern flank.
The US vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution on Thursday that would have demanded an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and that Israel lift all restrictions on aid deliveries to the Palestinian enclave.
An elderly British couple detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan in February were released and flying to Doha on Friday after Qatari mediation, an official with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Operating on a 24/7 basis, the Operation Control Centre (OCC) is the central hub monitoring passengers and trains to ensure a safe journey from start to finish.
In a powerful tribute to his late brother, Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and the UAE's Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, has launched a major global humanitarian initiative.