In a social media post, SpaceX owner Elon Musk said in spite of the explosive endings, the ninth Starship test flight was a success and one that will help advance development of the program.

The Starship super heavy-lift launch vehicle blasted off from SpaceX's Starbase in Texas for its ninth test flight. During its seventh and eight flights, the Starship exploded just a few minutes after launch.

SpaceX is preparing to launch the ninth flight test of its Starship rocket as early as Tuesday evening, with a 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time launch window.

SpaceX has made several hardware changes and improvements to the rocket since its last test flight, which was foiled by an engine anomaly.