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.
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.”
“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.
