SpaceX loses 2nd rocket in latest test flight after previous one exploded

By Darren Lyn

HOUSTON, United States (AA) - SpaceX lost a second rocket just eight minutes after its Thursday night liftoff, making it the second straight launch failure in as many tries, according to media outlets.

The 400-foot-tall Starship system blasted off from its launch pad at SpaceX’s Starbase site near Brownsville, Texas, at 6.30 p.m. EST (2330GMT), but mission control lost contact with the spacecraft a little after eight minutes into flight.

"I think it’s pretty obvious we’re not going to continue the rest of the mission today," SpaceX Communications Manager Dan Huot said on the company’s live webcast.

Thursday's latest mishap follows SpaceX's Jan. 16 launch in which the Starship megarocket exploded also roughly eight minutes into that flight. This time, several engines appeared to cut off as the upper-stage Starship vehicle was still accelerating into space. Live video of the blastoff showed the spacecraft spinning before all communication was lost.

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

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

The SpaceX Starship is a vehicle critical to NASA's plans to return astronauts to the Moon by 2027 or 2028.

"Obviously, a lot to go through, a lot to dig through," said SpaceX launch commentator Dan Huot. "The primary reason we do these flights is to learn. We have some more to learn about this vehicle, but we're going to be right back here in the not-too-distant future, and we're going to get a ship to space."

Thursday's failed launch was SpaceX's eighth test mission.

The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation into what went wrong.