SpaceX’s first Starship integrated spacecraft began its long-awaited test flight on April 20, but crashed into pieces a few minutes later. The Starship took off from the SpaceX Starbase test site in Boca Chica, Texas at approximately 9:33 PM ET. Takeoff came after a short 40-second delay to resolve recent problems jamming the rocket’s fuel tanks.

The Starship slowly lifted off the ramp. Many of the 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy rocket appeared to be malfunctioning in a video shown on the SpaceX webcast a minute after takeoff.

According to the schedule provided by the company, Super Heavy’s Raptor engines would be shut down at T+2:49, followed by the separation of the Starship’s upper stage and the firing of the six Raptor engines a second later. Instead, the combined Starship/Super Heavy stack began to fall as Super Heavy’s engines continued to fire. “This doesn’t seem like an equal situation,” SpaceX’s John Inspruker said during the webcast.

At T+4:00 the plane broke apart, but it was unclear whether this was due to aerodynamic forces or the flight termination system. Despite the setback, SpaceX employees watching the launch at the company’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California, applauded, noting the progress made during the flight.

The company emphasized that just before and immediately after the launch, the flight was a test flight to collect data to improve the design of the vehicle. “This was a development test. This was Starship’s first test flight,” Inspruker said. “The goal was to collect data and, as we say, clean up the notebook and get back on track.”

This test flight was not designed to reach orbit, instead sending Starship into a long suborbital orbit, landing near Hawaii 90 minutes after takeoff. No Starship or Super Heavy, which was expected to crash into the Gulf of Mexico, off Boca Chica.

SpaceX has other Starships and Super Heavys in various stages of development. They’ve already made some design changes while working on this tool. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted shortly after the flight, “I learned a lot for the next test launch in a few months.”