Here's a short video of the 21-foot-long X-Wing rocket launching at Plaster City, California, and then desintegrating spectacularly in mid-air. And no, it wasn't Darth Vader or those pesky deflector towers, just the stress from the launch. I can only say two things. The first is: absolutely amazing. And the second: poor Porkins. [UPDATE: new close-up video after the jump.]

Come back later today for our exclusive feature, with full video and interviews with the Rebel engineers. UPDATE: Gizmodo's exclusive video can be found here. And we just put up a video of the Y-Wing launch, complete with in flight camera footage.

[First video by boardinbrian - Second video by kevinbaird]

Send an email to Jesus Diaz, the author of this post, at jesus@gizmodo.com.