Despite the explosion, Starship launch was a 'success.'

Starship exploded this morning after a failed separation attempt, and SpaceX employees let out a huge cheer and started popping champaign bottles. That this is considered a success is why SpaceX is here and Blue Origin is way back there despite having massively more funding.

Unless I missed something, they were hoping to reach orbit, make almost 1 full trip around the earth, then splash down near Hawaii.

It was a success because the definition of success was modest: clear the launch pad.

The definition of success was modest because SpaceX has a culture of failing, iterating and learning, as opposed to trying to engineer everything to the hilt before trying anything.

Ironically now SpaceX loses fewer rockets than anyone ever has. Falcon 9's current landing streak is longer than any other orbital rocket program's successful launch streak, ever. Also it builds them for far less than anyone ever has.