SpaceX lands Super Heavy booster, but loses Starship in 8th test flight

SpaceX held its eighth integrated test launch for the Starship spacecraft on Thursday at its Starbase facility in southern Texas. However, the flight didn’t go entirely as planned.

While SpaceX secured another successful “chopstick” landing of Starship’s “Super Heavy” first-stage booster, the Elon Musk-owned company’s eighth test launch went like its seventh--ending in loss of contact with the vehicle.

During the previous trial, SpaceX faced an unexpected upper-stage explosion, forcing flights to be diverted as debris plummeted through the sky over various islands. This time, several of the Starship’s six Raptor engines failed at the end of its ascent burn.

SpaceX lost contact with Starship approximately nine minutes into the flight. It’s believed that the vehicle exploded shortly after.