SpaceX fumbles the Starship launch, but eventually landed the catch for a hat-trick

SpaceX has recently wrapped up its eighth test flight of Starship, the world's largest and most powerful rocket, and while the launch was deemed an overall success it wasn't without it's hiccups.

The space fairing company explained on its official X account and website that Super Heavy, the booster half of Starship, successfully lit its 33 Raptor engines, and approximately two and a half minutes after liftoff, Super Heavy separated from the Ship half of Starship.

The Ship half then proceeded to ignite six of its Raptor engines and continue to its ascent, but prior to the end of its ascent burn an energetic event within the aft portion of Ship resulted in a loss of several Raptor engines. The loss of the engines meant the Ship began to lose altitude and then an eventual loss of communications with SpaceX, which resulted in the RUD protocol being initiated, or Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly -- boom. The last contact SpaceX had with Ship was approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff.

As soon as the anomaly was detected, SpaceX initiated pre-planned contingency responses with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Air Traffic Control (ATO), and other safety officials. The Ship portion of the rocket would have burnt up upon reentry into Earth's atmosphere and SpaceX writes any debris would have fallen within the pre-planned Debris Response Area.

Notably, none of the debris is toxic to humans, marine life, or water quality. As for Super Heavy, the booster made a clean return back to the launch pad where it was caught by Mechazilla, marking the third time Super Heavy has been caught by the launch tower.