Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, pulled off a daring booster catch on its most ambitious test flight yet, but the spacecraft was lost. Follow for the latest news.

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.

The third Starship test flight last March saw the spacecraft reach its planned trajectory and fly halfway around the world before succumbing to the scorching heat of atmospheric reentry. In June, the fourth test flight ended with controlled splashdowns of the rocket's Super Heavy booster in the Gulf of Mexico and of Starship in the Indian Ocean.

SpaceX readies its seventh test flight of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever designed. The trial will test upgrades to the spacecraft and deploy mock satellites.

Elon Musk's SpaceX's Starship test flight ended in failure as the spacecraft exploded and broke apart, following a suspected fuel leak in the engine firewall.

The "rapid unscheduled disassembly" was likely caused by a propellant leak, Elon Musk said, and was captured on video by spectators on the ground.

The latest flight of the SpaceX Super Heavy-Starship includes multiple upgrades to improve safety and performance of the world's most powerful rocket.

The primary objectives for SpaceX were stress-testing the new ship and avionics, catching the booster at the launchpad for potential reuse, deploying the dummy satellites in space, and a targeted water landing. It wasn't immediately known what caused the redesigned spaceship to fail.

After the successful booster recovery, SpaceX officials reported losing contact with the spaceship toward the end of the ascend.

Starship experienced a "rapid unscheduled disassembly," which is a phrase SpaceX coined to describe an explosion.