SpaceX loses Starship spacecraft in eighth flight test

We’ve got a lot of measures in place, like debris response areas, where we coordinate very closely with air traffic control,

Huot said on the livestream

Once you lose enough of those center engines, you’re going to lose attitude control,

said Dan Huot, SpaceX communications manager, on the livestream

We wish to advise the public that this evening’s SpaceX launch appears to have broken up in flight,

the advisory read

A mishap investigation is designed to enhance public safety, determine the root cause of the event, and identify corrective actions to avoid it from happening again,

according to the statement

Prior to the end of the ascent burn, an energetic event in the aft portion of Starship resulted in the loss of several Raptor engines,

according to a statement from SpaceX

No Caribbean islands, including Turks and Caicos, exceeded this threshold,

the agency said

Any surviving debris would have fallen within the pre-planned Debris Response Area,

according to the statement

During Starship's ascent burn, the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost. Our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses."

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), SpaceX stated

We will review the data from today's flight test to better understand root cause. As always, success comes from what we learn, and today's flight will offer additional lessons to improve Starship's reliability,

it added

Unfortunately this happened last time too so we've got some practice now,

SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot said on the live stream

Too many question marks about this flight and then we were 20 bar low on ground spin start pressure. Best to destack, inspect both stages and try again in a day or two."

Musk addressed the delay on X (formerly Twitter) on March 3, stating