SpaceX completed their third launch of their new huge Starship Heavy rocket early this morning from the southern Texas Gulf Coast.  The launch took place at 8:25 am local time. As the largest rocket ever built, Starship stands at almost 400 feet tall.

After lifting off the Texas launchpad with its 33 engines fired up, the rocket climbed up over the Gulf of Mexico where Starship cleanly separated from its booster rocket and proceeded to orbit. There, it began a series of in-flight tests, including some designed to see how future SpaceX Starlink satellites could be released into space on future missions.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson commended SpaceX for their private launch, posting on X, “Congrats to @SpaceX on a successful test flight! Starship has soared into the heavens. Together, we are making great strides through Artemis to return humanity to the Moon—then look onward to Mars.”

However, before a planned “splashed-down” in the Indian Ocean, Communications Manager Dan Huot announced on the company’s webcast, “We have lost Ship 28.” The rocket broke apart during its re-entry process and SpaceX will use the coming days to understand why that happened ahead of a future launch attempt of another rocket.

Space author and journalist Eric Berger said on X that the next launch experiment could happen as soon as “May or June”, adding that the next launch attempt could be “operational” and include the deployment of Starlink satellites.