SpaceX loses Starship spacecraft during seventh test launch

SpaceX's latest test launch of its Starship spacecraft on Thursday resulted in the destruction of its vehicle, after the spacecraft broke up just over eight minutes after its blast-off. 

The company said that it successfully caught its first stage booster back at the firing stand but lost its new-generation Starship upper stage spacecraft, which broke apart upon reaching space, CBS News reported.

A SpaceX launch commentator said it lost "all communications" with the ship, which implied that the error was with the upper stage of the spacecraft. The flight was unmanned.

"Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn," SpaceX wrote in a post on X. "Teams will continue to review data from today's flight test to better understand root cause. With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will help us improve Starship’s reliability."

The company said Thursday's flight was a setback but that it would still launch another starship in the future, after reviewing data from the most recent mission. 

“We obviously need to go through all the data," SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot told CNN. " It’s going to take some time. In the next hours, days — we’re going to figure out exactly what happened, come back, fly the next one, get farther. Reminder ... It’s a test of an experimental vehicle."  

Although the starship was lost, the mission was not a total failure, because it successfully guided its Super Heavy booster back to a landing at the launch site for the second time ever.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.