SpaceX's colossal Starship lifted off from the company's Starbase launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas, at 9:25 AM ET on Thursday morning.

This test flight marked a significant improvement over its two previous attempts, as the spacecraft became "the first Starship to complete its full-duration ascent burn" with its six Raptor engines propelling it to its intended orbit. It successfully executed the hot-staging separation from its Super Heavy booster and deployed a payload door, showcasing its potential for missions such as delivering Starlink satellites into orbit.

The vehicle remained intact until communication with the Starship spacecraft was lost shortly before its expected splashdown in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX reported, "The flight test's conclusion occurred during entry, with the last telemetry signals received via Starlink from Starship approximately 49 minutes into the mission."

SpaceX's live broadcast of the flight test concluded approximately an hour after liftoff, with the final footage from Starship displaying the reentry process as captured by external cameras.

Before concluding the broadcast, commentators remarked, "We may have lost Starship," upon losing communication with the spacecraft. SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot stated, "We haven't heard from the ship up until this point, so the team has made the call that the ship has been lost. So, no splashdown today."

SpaceX stated, "Starship and Super Heavy vehicles are preparing for upcoming flights as we seek to increase our launch cadence throughout the year."

In a summary of the mission, SpaceX confirmed the fate of the Super Heavy booster rocket after executing a flip maneuver and boostback burn toward its intended splashdown location in the Gulf of Mexico:

Super Heavy successfully lit several engines for its first ever landing burn before the vehicle experienced a RUD (that’s SpaceX-speak for “rapid unscheduled disassembly”). The booster’s flight concluded at approximately 462 meters in altitude and just under seven minutes into the mission.

And gave a reason for not attempting the on-orbit engine relight as planned:

Starship did not attempt its planned on-orbit relight of a single Raptor engine due to vehicle roll rates during coast.

This marked SpaceX's third attempt to test the Starship rocket. The initial test took place on April 20th of the previous year, but it ended in flames approximately four minutes after liftoff. The second attempt occurred on November 18th, with a better outcome; although the Super Heavy booster also exploded after separation, the Starship spacecraft continued its journey into orbit. However, SpaceX believes it self-destructed after communication with the vehicle was lost.

Today's Starship test received approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday, less than 24 hours before its scheduled launch time. The FAA determined that SpaceX had satisfied all safety, environmental, policy, and financial responsibility requirements. According to Space.com, the FAA mandated SpaceX to address 17 corrective actions, including vehicle hardware redesigns, updates to flammability analyses, and the installation of additional fire protection, following an investigation into the second unsuccessful Starship test. This is significantly fewer corrective actions than the 63 identified during the first test.