SpaceX’s massive Starship exploded 10 minutes after taking off Thursday night, sending flaming debris across the night sky – two months after another one of the company’s rockets broke apart during the last test flight.

Engineers from SpaceX stated that the 400-foot-tall ship, which launched from the company’s Starbase facility near Boca Chica Beach, in Texas, lost altitude control after several engines stopped working just 20 seconds before the end of ascent burn in its eight test flight.  

“During Starship’s ascent burn, the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost,” a statement from SpaceX posted to X read. “Our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses.”

“We will review the data from today’s flight test to better understand root case. As always, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will offer additional lessons to improve Starship’s reliability,” the statement concluded.

During the livestream of the flight, nearly 1 million viewers watched as the ship spun out of control before the cameras completely cut out.

The ship was expected to splash down in the Indian Ocean, but videos circulating on social media showed the debris of Starship 8 streaking over the Atlantic Ocean, with users in Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas marveling at the glistening wreckage as it crashed towards Earth.

Flights at several Florida airports were temporarily grounded on Thursday due to “space launch debris,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

SpaceX lost contact with Starship 8 before it was able to deploy its test satellites, which were set to occur at the 17-minute mark.

Before the explosion, SpaceX completed its third-ever catch of its Super Heavy booster, equipped with 33 Raptor engines, which returned to the Texas launchpad where the so-called “chopsticks” mechanical arms grabbed the reusable and powerful propellant.

SpaceX postponed plans for this launch on Monday due to undisclosed issues with the Super Heavy Booster which was flagged by computers just 23 minutes before the planned take-off.

The Elon Musk-owned company delighted stargazers last October during its fifth test when it completed the first successful catch of the booster rockets, with Starship itself completing a successful entry in the Indian Ocean.

The following launch — which then President-elect Donald Trump and his family watched from Starbase — saw SpaceX abort the catch attempt, forcing the boosters to make a splash down in the gulf.

The seventh test, however, saw the company complete its second-ever catch, but the mission was far from a success as it resulted in the destruction of the main Starship rocket.

That updated Starship experienced a propellant leak during its ascent, causing it to break apart and explode over the Atlantic Ocean, with its burning debris visible from the Turks and Caicos islands.

Starship is designed to be fully and rapidly reusable, saving SpaceX significantly on cost and resources, which would aid the company in reaching its ultimate goal of pioneering travel to the Moon and Mars.