In photos: SpaceX's Starship SN9 prototype soars 10 km, crash-lands in Texas

SpaceX launched its Starship SN9 prototype on a 10-kilometer (6.2 miles) test flight that ended with a boom on Feb. 2, 2021. See photos of the epic test in this gallery.

Above: SpaceX's 165-foot-tall (50 meters) Starship SN9 prototype stands at the company's South Texas site on Jan. 21, 2021.

Full story: SpaceX's Starship SN9 launches to 10 km, crashes during landing

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After successfully soaring to an altitude of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), SpaceX's Starship SN9 prototype smashed into the touchdown site about 6.5 minutes after liftoff, exploding in a massive fireball.

The epic "boom" looked a lot like the fate of SN9's predecessor, SN8, which launched to an altitude of about 7.8 miles (12.5 kilometers) on Dec. 8, 2020, before returning to the launch pad with a crash.

The shiny, stainless-steel Starship SN9 prototype lifts off from SpaceX's South Texas facility, on the Gulf Coast near the small community of Boca Chica Village, on Feb. 2, 2021, at 3:25 p.m. EST (1825 GMT; 2:25 p.m. local Texas time).

SpaceX's Starship SN9 rocket prototype rises above the Boca Chica beach region of South Texas on Feb. 2, 2021.

SpaceX's Starship SN9 takes to the skies after lifting off from the company's South Texas site on Feb. 2, 2021. The 165-foot-tall (50 meters) craft appeared to fly well, shutting down its three Raptor engines sequentially as planned, reaching its target altitude of about 6.2 miles (10 kilometers).

The Starship SN9 prototype is seen after a flip maneuver, which SpaceX refers to as a "belly flop," to return to Earth after reaching its target 10-kilometer altitude.

A SpaceX camera on the ground captures the Starship SN9 prototype as it attempts to land.

During its descent back to Earth, SN9 did not slow down enough for a vertical landing — nor was the spacecraft completely vertical.

A plume rises over the crash site of SpaceX's Starship SN9 after its test ended in a hard impact and explosion. The Starship SN10 vehicle is visible to the left of the plume.

SpaceX's Starship SN9 and SN10 prototypes met at the pad for the first time on Jan. 29, 2021. The SN10 vehicle, SpaceX's latest in a line of new reusable Starship prototypes, rolled out to the pad as its SN9 counterpart awaited its own test flight.

SpaceX's Starship SN10 (left) rolls out to its test stand while the company's Starship SN9 stands on its own pad at the company's South Texas facility near Boca Chica Village on Jan. 29, 2021.

SpaceX's Starship SN9 rocket prototype (center) launches on a 10-kilometer test flight from the company's South Texas facility on Feb. 2, 2021. Its successor SN10 is seen in the foreground at right.

A closeup view of the three Raptor engines that powered SpaceX's Starship SN9 prototype. Two of those engines had to be replaced before SN9's big flight test, after SpaceX identified problems with the two engines during a series of static fire tests on Jan. 13, 2021.