SpaceX catches its Starship booster back at the launch pad, but the spacecraft it launched is destroyed

SpaceX launched its Starship rocket on its latest test flight Thursday, catching the booster back at the pad but losing contact with the ascending spacecraft as engines went out.

Officials for Elon Musk’s company said the spacecraft was destroyed.

The spacecraft was supposed to soar across the Gulf of Mexico on a near loop around the world similar to previous test flights. SpaceX had packed it with 10 dummy satellites for practice at releasing them. It was the first flight of this new and upgraded spacecraft.

Debris from the spacecraft caused commercial air travel delays in parts of Florida on Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

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Before the loss, SpaceX for the second time used giant mechanical arms to catch the booster back at the pad minutes after liftoff from Texas. The descending booster hovered over the launch pad before being gripped by a pair of mechanical arms dubbed chopsticks.

The 400-foot rocket thundered away in late afternoon from Boca Chica near the Mexican border. The late hour ensured a daylight entry halfway around the world.

Skimming space, the shiny retro-looking spacecraft — intended by Musk as a moon and Mars ship — targeted the Indian Ocean for a controlled but destructive end to the hourlong demo.

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SpaceX beefed up the catch tower after November’s launch ended up damaging sensors on the robotic arms, forcing the team to forgo a capture attempt. That booster was steered into the gulf instead.

The company also upgraded the spacecraft for the latest demo. The test satellites were the same size as SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites and, like the spacecraft, meant to drop into the Indian Ocean to close out the mission. Contact was lost about 8 1/2 minutes into the flight.

Musk plans to launch actual Starlinks on Starships before moving on to other satellites and, eventually, crews.

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It was the seventh test flight for the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket. NASA has reserved a pair of Starships to land astronauts on the moon later this decade. Musk’s goal is Mars.

“Every Starship launch is one more step closer towards Mars,” Musk said via X ahead of liftoff.

Hours hours earlier in Florida, another billionaire’s rocket company — Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin — launched the newest supersized rocket, New Glenn. The rocket reached orbit on its first flight, successfully placing an experimental satellite thousands of miles above Earth. But the first-stage booster was destroyed, missing its targeted landing on a floating platform in the Atlantic.