WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A SpaceX Starship rocket broke up in space minutes after launching from Texas on Thursday, forcing airline flights over the Gulf of Mexico to alter course to avoid falling debris and setting back Elon Musk's flagship rocket program.

President Donald Trump's new administration is likely to do away with the White House's National Space Council, a cabinet policy panel that lobbyists at Elon Musk's SpaceX have been pushing to axe, according to three people familiar with the plans.

SpaceX said the ship experienced “a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn,” moments after a dramatic, successful booster catch at the launchpad.

The incident in which a SpaceX rocket broke up after launch demonstrates the challenges the FAA will face as the number of commercial space flights increases.

Flawed rocket launches by SpaceX and Blue Origin still leave both companies in position to dominate the space sector.

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Elon Musk has been condemned as "a mixture of mad and right-wing extremist" by professor Jens-Christian Wagner, a historian who runs the Buchenwald concentration camp memorial, the largest in Germany.

Qantas Airline flights have been delayed due to the risk posed by falling debris from SpaceX rockets during reentry over the Southern Indian Ocean.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX suspects a fire may have caused its Starship to break apart during liftoff and send trails of flaming debris near the Caribbean. SpaceX’s Elon Musk said ...

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A SpaceX Starship prototype failed in space on Thursday, minutes after launching from Texas, setting back the company's speedy rocket development efforts in a mission that was expected to debut a key satellite deployment demonstration.