As Starship was returning to Earth’s atmosphere, SpaceX officials announced that they lost contact with the system and the rocket was destroyed.

“The spacecraft is gone,” the commentator said during the live broadcast of the flight.

“Therefore, we will not have a landing today,” he added.

Based on the original plan, the missile was supposed to complete its flight by crashing into the Indian Ocean.

Watch video of its flaming re-entry into the atmosphere:

Starship re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. Views through the plasma pic.twitter.com/HEQX4eEHWH

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2024

Watch Starship’s third flight test → https://t.co/bJFjLCiTbK https://t.co/1u46r769Vp

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2024

Recall that the launch took place from the Starbase facility near Boca Chica Beach in South Texas.

Starship was launched shortly after 3:00 p.m. local time aboard a heavy-lift, Super Heavy rocket.

A few minutes later the critical separation of the two stages took place.

Starship was launched shortly after 3:00 p.m. local time on a Super Heavy rocket.

A few minutes later the critical separation of the two stages took place.

“A successful third attempt”

Starship, designed to carry astronauts to the Moon and beyond, nearly completed its third test flight, reaching farther than any previous test.

“The spacecraft has reached orbital velocity! Congratulations to the SpaceX team,” Elon Musk tweeted.

Starship reached orbital velocity!

Congratulations @SpaceX team!!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2024

The SpaceX team described today’s attempt by Starship as a successful attempt to orbit space – despite the fact that contact was lost as the rocket re-entered the atmosphere.

Unlike the two previous attempts, which failed due to technical glitches, Starship was able to pass through all the stages SpaceX wanted to achieve.

The most impressive of these is that the rocket managed to reach space on its longest and most ambitious test flight to date.