SpaceX launches towering Starship rocket in first attempt to reach space

Anyone have a sense of just how much of a success or failure this was? THe way I understand it, getting the rocket off the launchpad was a major milestone. It seems they almost got to stage 2 separation.

Their graphic showing which engines were lit was really cool

It exploded.

Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly

The first stage seemed to work pretty well up to the point where the second stage was supposed to separate but then the whole rocket started tumbling.

Stage separation is a tricky problem. So is the problem of getting the fuel and oxidizer to flow through the complex network of pipes to feed all those engines and they succeeded at that.

I am certainly not an expert but the first stage looked very shaky to me. I honestly did not think it was going to get off the pad and even after it did, it seemed to be struggling. But I really don't know if that is a correct observation.

Those kind of big rockets tend to take a while to get free of the pad and really get moving, look at the Apollo 11 launch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdxzMPi19sU

I'd contrast that to solid fuel sounding rockets which are "just gone" after they ignite.