— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 6, 2025 The upper stage Starship then was supposed to continue halfway around the planet to attempt a water landing in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia. But teams lost contact with Starship at 90 miles of altitude over the Atlantic, and then it began to tumble from its flight path and disintegrate. SpaceX calls that “a rapid unscheduled disassembly.” SpaceX commentator Dan Huot said telemetry showed engines going out with only about 20 seconds left in the upper stage’s ascent burn. “We did see the ship start to go into a spin and at this point we have lost contact with the ship,” he said. In a later update posted on SpaceX’s website, the company said, “Prior to the end of the ascent burn, an energetic event in the aft portion of Starship resulted in the loss of several Raptor engines. This in turn led to a loss of attitude control and ultimately a loss of communications with Starship.” The failure follows a similar pattern seen during the Jan. 16 launch, which also saw a successful catch of the Super Heavy booster, but the Starship spacecraft blew up after passing over the Gulf of Mexico with scenes of the streaking debris posted to social media from places like the Turks & Caicos. 🚨 NEW: INCREDIBLE views of Starship 7 breaking up over Turks and Caicos tonight Imagine seeing this over your house 🤣 pic.twitter.com/ndyDETK4wC