SpaceX Starship spacecraft's eight test flight failed to achieved its objective as it exploded mid-flight.
As reported by CNN, the spaceflight, which took place on Thursday night, March 7, 2025 met the same fate as the seventh spacecraft trial, which also exploded mid-journey.
Related: SpaceX Starship explodes after seventh test flight
Elon Musk's company successfully captured a booster from the rocket as it made it way back to the launch tower.
However, the vehicle ended up in a fiery explosion, causing air traffic disruption throughout Florida.
The mission was lifted off at 5:30 p.m. CT from Starbase facility in South Texas, rescheduled from it's original date on Monday, March 3, 2025 due to "too many question marks,"
Starship was only about 20 seconds away from the expedition end when SpaceX lost contact with the spacecraft, with several engine being cut off.
Dan Huot, SpaceX communication manager shared, "Once you lose enough of those centre engines, you're going to lose attitude control."
The manager added, "And so we did see the ship start to go into a spin, and at this point we have lost contact with the ship."
Similarly to the Flight 7, which exploded over populated islands in Turks and Caicos, the loss of signal occurred roughly at the same point during this mission as well.
For the eighth test mission, the explosion was visible from some parts of Florida but the exact location of the incident has not been revealed yet.
US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) suspended all flights due to "falling space debris."
While discussing the preventative measures the company take in case of explosion, Huot added, "We've got a lot of measures in place, like debris response areas, where we coordinate very closely with air traffic control."
Related: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket illuminates night sky, leaves Californians in awe
"We have a lot of measuring put (in place) before we ever launch a rocket to make sure we're keeping the public safe. Those worked last time and they're actively in work right now," the SpaceX rep revealed.
Notably, the incident occurred seven weeks after an explosion prematurely ended Startship' seventh flight on January 16, 2025.
