On Thursday afternoon, SpaceX encountered a setback as it lost a new version of its Starship rocket during its initial flight launch for 2025 from southern Texas.

At 4:49 p.m. CT, Kate Tice, a Senior Manager at SpaceX, mentioned in a livestream that the uncrewed ship had lost contact, later indicating that it was likely lost.

According to SpaceX, the Associated Press reported that the rocket was destroyed. YSL News was attempting to get verification from SpaceX.

Officials noted that a number of engines failed during the ascent phase but did not give a clear reason for what happened. This launch represented the seventh test flight of the 400-foot-tall Starship, which took off from SpaceX’s Starbase located in Boca Chica, close to Brownsville, Texas.

On a positive note, the megarocket successfully executed the booster return and was caught at the launch pad using its large mechanical arms known as “chopsticks” for the second time.

This maneuver had only been successfully performed once before, during an October 13 demonstration, and was canceled during a November 19 launch attempt.

More about the launch

On December 17, SpaceX received permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to proceed with the launch after a successful sixth flight test on November 19. This prior launch was watched by SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump just over a week after the latter’s victory in the 2024 elections.

Originally set for 4 p.m. local time, the launch was delayed slightly to 4:37 p.m. Initially scheduled for Monday, SpaceX had to push it to Wednesday and finally to Thursday because of bad weather conditions.

What is the purpose of the Starship?

Elon Musk aims for the SpaceX Starship, which consists of the 165-foot Starship spacecraft and the 232-foot Super Heavy rocket, to be a fully reusable system designed to transport astronauts and cargo to and from Earth’s orbit, the moon, and Mars.

The Starship is set to be crucial for NASA’s efforts to return to the moon amidst a competitive international space race. As part of NASA’s ambitious Artemis program, which marks the agency’s first lunar initiative since the Apollo missions of the 1970s, SpaceX is being funded $4 million to build a spacecraft capable of safely carrying astronauts from orbit to the moon’s surface.

Musk also sees the Starship as a key vehicle for establishing a human presence on Mars, previously stating that the first mission to Mars could occur in late 2026 when Earth and Mars are optimally aligned. Crewed missions could follow by 2028.