SpaceX’s gigantic Starship rocket has been “lost” just minutes into its seventh test flight.
The 400ft rocket – the biggest and most powerful in the world – soared from Boca Chica, south Texas, on Thursday around 4.40pm local time (10.40pm in the UK).
Just minutes after the rocket launched, its booster made its planned return to the ground and after momentarily hovering over the launchpad, it was spectacularly caught between two giant mechanical arms.
It’s the second time SpaceX has managed this particular feat.
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However, as crowds cheered the booster’s return, the company said it had lost contact with Starship as the engines went out.
A host on SpaceX’s livestream soon confirmed: “At this point in time, we can confirm we did lose the ship.
“It looks like we lost contact a little under eight and a half minutes into the flight.”
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“It was great to see a booster come down, but we are obviously bummed out about ship,” SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot said, adding it will take time to analyse the data and figure out what went wrong.
The last data received from Starship indicated an altitude of 90 miles and a velocity of 13,245 mph.
The flight was the seventh test run for the newly-upgraded Starship, and marked the next step in Elon Musk’s bid to build the first fully reusable spacecraft to get humans to Mars.
“Every Starship launch is one more step closer towards Mars,” he said on X before liftoff.
The Starship prototype had been modified significantly since its sixth test flight in November.
It was due to soar across the Gulf of Mexico on a near-loop around the world and SpaceX had packed it with dummy satellites, so it could practice releasing them.
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Ahead of the launch, Musk’s company also upgraded the booster ‘catch’ tower after it was damaged during a previous test flight in November.
It’s not the first time a SpaceX Starship has been lost during a test flight. In November 2023, the company’s second attempt at launching its mega rocket ended abruptly when the vessel was lost following explosions.
