This marks the company's second prototype explosion in just three months.

The Starship SN nine was a test model of a heavy lift rocket being developed by Elon Musk's private space company.

It's designed to carry humans and 100 tons of cargo on missions to the moon and Mars.

The 16 story tall rocket soared into the sky without issues.

It hovered in mid air as it reached its peak altitude six miles above its launch pad as it descended.

One of the three thrusters failed to ignite and fell rapidly to the ground.

6.5 minutes after lift off, the SN nine exploded into a ball of flames, smoke and debris just like the SN eight before it when, in December, the Starships first prototype met a similar fate.

No injuries occurred in either incident.

Musk did not provide an immediate comment and said earlier on Twitter he was going to be off the social media platform.

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The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that it would investigate Tuesday's explosion, feeling tension between the agency and musk, the F A A.

Had investigated December's launched, saying it did not meet public safety standards but approved Tuesday's test to take place after what it called corrective actions.

Last week must criticized the agency space division in a tweet, saying the F A, a space division, has a fundamentally broken regulatory structure.

Their rules are meant for a handful of expendable launches per year from a few government facilities.

Under those rules, humanity will never get to Mars space six Intense tow launch the starships first orbital flight by the end of the year, and by 2023 Musk has said he'll fly his first passenger around the moon for everyone.