SpaceX's Starship rocket orbits Earth for first time

The world's biggest rocket has splashed down into the Pacific Ocean after orbiting Earth for the first time.

After lifting off from the US state of Texas, it was hoped that SpaceX's Starship - which the company hopes will one day send people to the Moon - would complete six loops of the Earth.

However the craft only managed two before SpaceX decided to end the mission early and bring it back to Earth.

Both parts of the rocket were brought back to Earth: The booster splashed into the Gulf of Mexico while the top half of the rocket blew up in the Pacific Ocean after it landed - but there was no-one on board so no-one was hurt.

It's the latest stage in the development of the rocket, which could also be used for future missions to Mars.

Starship is 124m tall and 9m wide.

It's made up of two main parts - the spacecraft, or Ship, and the so-called Super Heavy rocket.

The Ship is the very top part of the rocket.

SpaceX aims to make Starship completely reusable, coming back to base after launch.

The rocket consists of thirty three engines which produce around 74 meganewtons of thrust - almost 700 times as powerful as a normal jet plane you might go on holiday in.

It's also about twice as powerful as the Saturn V rocket which first took humanity to the Moon's surface.

SpaceX says the spacecraft - which is taking part in its 14th test flight - is "the world's most powerful launch vehicle ever developed" and says it will eventually carry crew and cargo "to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond."

Until now, all Starship flights have been suborbital, meaning the capsules were high enough to reach space, but did not travel fast enough or long enough to complete a loop around the Earth.

Despite the mission ending early, and with an big explosion, BBC Climate and Science reporter Georgina Rannard says that overall "SpaceX will be absolutely delighted with how today went".

However, one of the other aims of the mission, which was successfully completed, was the delivery of 26 "next generation" Starlink V3 satellites into orbit.