Seven minutes later, Starship's huge first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, returned to Starbase for a dramatic catch by the launch tower's "chopstick" arms. It was the third time that SpaceX has demonstrated this jaw-dropping technique.

"The light show was completely silent — we didn’t hear anything. But the reflection on the water from the burning debris was quite pretty!"

Elon Musk aims to change spaceflight forever with Starship, but SpaceX hasn't quite gotten the rocket right. Starship flight 8 lost control Thursday.

SpaceX's Starship spiraled out of control while in space during a test flight Thursday, marking the second launch in a row that the vehicle has run

The vehicle, intended for a controlled descent into the Indian Ocean, instead fell into a spin, and SpaceX lost contact.