The spacecraft left the Earth's atmosphere, but in space, it started to spin and leak fuel.
Space X announced that they had lost the opportunity to regulate its altitude – a clear indication that the return journey to Earth would not go as smoothly as planned.
Not long after, Space X stated that contact with the spacecraft had been lost and that re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere would occur. The spacecraft was still to crash into the Indian Ocean, within the safety zone cleared of ships in advance.
"Unplanned disassembly"
Later, the space company announced that the spacecraft had burned up or exploded.
"As if the flight test wasn't exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid, unplanned disassembly," writes Space X in a statement, adding that collected data will be analyzed before the next flight.
During the night's test flight, they also failed to test the ability to release satellites during the space journey, as a hatch malfunctioned.
Ninth test flight"
"Success comes from what we learn, and today's test will help us improve Starship's reliability," writes the company on X.
The test flight follows two failed attempts at launch in March and January, when the spacecraft exploded shortly after takeoff.
This was the ninth test flight for the world's largest rocket. The US space agency NASA has reserved a number of rockets to land astronauts on the moon later this decade.
