SpaceX on Thursday carried out the third test launch of Starship, the world's most powerful rocket that is vital to NASA's plans for landing astronauts on the Moon and Elon Musk's hopes of eventually colonizing Mars.

Lift-off from the company's based in southeast Texas came around 8:25 am local time (1325 GMT) and was carried on a webcast viewed by more than 1.5 million people.

Hundreds of Spring Break spectators, rocket launch chasers and SpaceX fans gathered along the southern shores of South Padre Island and surrounding areas to witness the third test flight of the biggest rocket ever built.

About 5 miles (8 kilometres) south of the crowds, SpaceX's massive Starship vehicle lifted off this morning (March 14) at 9:25am EDT (1325 GMT) from the company's manufacturing and test launch facilities near Boca Chica Beach.

"Starship reached orbital velocity," SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced on X (formerly Twitter) after liftoff. "Congratulations SpaceX team!!" The launch occurred on the 22nd anniversary of SpaceX's founding in 2002, the company said.