Watch the Koonibba launch that didn't exactly make it into space

Southern Launch's first rocket test from the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia's far west did not go as planned, however the company says it will try again.

A large crowd gathered at the viewing area at Koonibba - a small Indigenous township of around 200 people about 580km north-west of Adelaide.

They waited in anticipation of seeing the start of an exciting time for Australian space exploration. What they got was a misfire and a rocket that never left the ground.

DEWC Systems chief executive officer Ian Spencer said it was disappointing to not get going on Tuesday, but the team will try again.

"I don't think it's a real rocket launch activity unless we have at least one failure - that's done, put it in the bank and move on," he said.

"We'll stick with Lloyd who has been fantastic in supporting us to do our job and our mission will go ahead, and I'm sure we'll get a launch this week."

Mr Marshall said that despite the hiccup, he was excited for what can come out of the Koonibba tests and called it a "historic day".

"We're pretty excited with the buzz in and around the Koonibba Aboriginal community, the schools students are excited and people have come from a long way away to be part of what is going to be a great sector for Australia," he said.

"We know the federal government have plans to grow the sector to $12 billion by 2030 and create an additional 20,000 jobs and South Australia is in a really good position to benefit from those jobs, and it is fantastic to see so many school students here today as we get ready to go back to space.

"With innovation like this there are often lots of steps which are taken, and there will be another attempt on Saturday - this will be the first commercial space capable rocket launch in Australia ever, all previous launches have been government launches and it is an historic time and a taste of what's to come in Australia."