Next SpaceX launched its Starship rocket on its latest test flight Thursday, catching the booster back at the pad but losing contact with the ascending spacecraft. Officials said that stage was destroyed. (SpaceX/AP News) By: RELATED STORY | SpaceX wins contract to bring International Space Station out of orbit by 2030 It was the seventh test flight for the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket. NASA has reserved a pair of Starships to land astronauts on the moon later this decade. Musk’s goal is Mars. “Every Starship launch is one more step closer towards Mars,” Musk said via X ahead of liftoff. Hours hours earlier in Florida, another billionaire’s rocket company — Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin — launched the newest supersized rocket, New Glenn. The rocket reached orbit on its first flight, successfully placing an experimental satellite thousands of miles above Earth. But the first-stage booster was destroyed, missing its targeted landing on a floating platform in the Atlantic. Copyright 2025 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Our gift to the Nashville community