The latest test of Space X’s giant Starship rocket has failed, minutes after launch.
Officials at Elon Musk’s company said the upper stage was lost after problems developed after lift-off from Texas on Thursday.
The mission came hours after the first flight of the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket system, backed by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos.
The two tech billionaires both want to dominate the space vehicle market.
“Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn. Teams will continue to review data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause,” SpaceX posted on X.
“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will help us improve Starship’s reliability.”
SpaceX’s Starship system had lifted off from Boca Chica, Texas, at 17:38 EST (22:38 GMT) in the company’s seventh test mission.
The Starship upper stage separated from its Super Heavy booster nearly four minutes into flight as planned.
But then SpaceX Communications Manager Dan Huot reported on a live stream that mission teams had lost contact with the ship.
In a webcast, SpaceX’s Kate Tice said: “At this point in time, we can confirm we did lose the ship.”
“We always knew that excitement is guaranteed today, success not guaranteed,” she added.
