James Temple was "in the right place at the right time" to take these dramatic images of SpaceX's Starship's seventh flight test disintegrating above the Atlantic Ocean

SpaceX launched the seventh test flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday, but lost communication with the uncrewed upper stage of the rocket that continues on into space. "We can confirm that we did lose the ship,

SpaceX pulled off its “chopsticks” catch of a Super Heavy rocket booster but lost the Starship spacecraft on Thursday during the vehicle’s seventh uncrewed test flight.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made light of Starship's fiery end. "Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!" he said on X.

While SpaceX lost the upper stage of its new Starship in a flight test, the futuristic spacecraft presages a spaceflight revolution, says a leading U.S. space scholar.

By Joey Roulette WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A SpaceX Starship rocket broke up in space minutes after launching from Texas on Thursday, forcing airline flights over the Gulf of Mexico to alter course to avoid falling debris and setting back Elon Musk's flagship rocket program.

Falling debris from the SpaceX Starship explosion yesterday created what looked like a meteor shower, or a colorful fireworks show based on videos shared by people in the area, but it also delayed flights.

After exploding, the craft sent blazing debris across the sky and forced multiple aircraft flying over and near the Caribbean to divert.

SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink internet satellites early this morning (Jan. 21), five days after a test flight of the company's Starship megarocket ended in an explosion. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink satellites lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday at 12:24 a.m. EST (0524 GMT).

Dramatic footage showing streaks of light zipping across the sky surfaced online following Elon Musk's Starship explosion over the Atlantic Ocean.

The rocket company’s effort to demonstrate payload deployment, land its upper stage and potentially achieve spaceship-to-spaceship fuel transfer this year had an inauspicious start when the Starship system suffered a setback during the Jan. 16 flight. Minutes after launch, the Block 2 upper stage broke up when a fire developed in the aft section.

SpaceX said the ship experienced “a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn,” moments after a dramatic, successful booster catch at the launchpad.