After back-to-back Starship upper stage failures, SpaceX on Tuesday again launched the world's most powerful rocket, but faced new problems.

Federal regulators gave SpaceX the green light for another test flight of Starship, the most powerful launch vehicle ever constructed, after mishaps earlier this year rained debris near populated islands.

SpaceX 's ninth Starship test flight ended abruptly on Tuesday when the rocket experienced a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" — the company's favourite euphemism for "exploded." It's the third Starship test flight in a row to end in fiery failure, Elon Musk 's space company having had a poor run as of late.