Starbase, Texas - SpaceX's Starship spacecraft splashed down into the Indian Ocean Friday after the company performed a mostly successful test flight of the latest version of its enormous rocket.

The voyage was not without a few glitches, but SpaceX employees shown on a livestream roared in delight following the trial flight that comes as the firm owned by Elon Musk prepares a potentially record initial public offering.

The mammoth rocket blasted off into space just after 5:30 PM local time.

The company did not intend to recover the booster or the upper stage, and the final splashdown was fiery but controlled, as planned.

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"Splashdown confirmed!" the company wrote on X.

Musk applauded his team on X, calling the flight "epic" and having "scored a goal for humanity."

The vehicle coasted through space but was not in exactly the correct orbit after one of its engines malfunctioned during an initial burn.

As SpaceX primarily aimed to demonstrate its redesigns in flight, the third-generation Starship carried out a maneuver that saw it flip upright and reignite its engines for control, despite one being out of commission.

"I wouldn't call it nominal orbital insertion," company spokesperson Dan Huot said, adding however that it was "within bounds" of a previously analyzed trajectory.

After the Super Heavy booster separated from the upper stage as expected, Huot said on the livestream that the booster failed to complete its so-called boost-back burn.

The booster fell swiftly back to Earth, uncontrolled, into the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX wasn't planning to retrieve the booster anyway, but was still hoping for a precision return.

Friday's flight followed an aborted trial one day prior, during which Musk said a "hydraulic pin holding the tower arm in place did not retract," but this issue was fixed overnight.