SpaceX has attempted to test the first high-altitude flight of its Mars-bound spacecraft Starship.

Starship SN8 was ready to take off after a delay of a few days, but as soon as the countdown reached zero, there was a problem with one of the engines.

SpaceX tweeted, “Raptor auto-aunts in T20 seconds.

The 12.5-kilometer test of the SN8 Starship has been identified as a major milestone in Elon Musk’s ambition to send the first man to Mars by 2024.

Before the flight test, Mr Kasturi said it had only one in three successes.

SpaceX said the purpose was not to demonstrate a successful operational spacecraft, but to test some aspects of the latest Starship prototype.

SpaceX said on its website, “These three Raptor engines are designed to test a number of objectives for how they can handle the extended transfer of a vehicle to the car’s ventilated entrance (including its body flap).”

“The SN8 will also try to run landing flip flops, which will be the first for vehicles of this size.”

The starship has garnered considerable excitement, with about 150,000 people keeping up with a live stream of the latest attempt.