SpaceX, the space transportation company owned by Elon Musk, conducted the 8th test flight of its most powerful space rocket, Starship.

The Starship rocket carrying 4 artificial Starlink satellites was successfully launched from the Starbase rocket development site in Texas, USA at 02:30 Turkey time. The first stage booster Super Heavy, which has the reusability feature, returned to Earth as planned about 8 minutes after the launch and was successfully caught by the Mechazilla platform.

However, SpaceX later announced that the connection with Starship was lost during its ascent, stating that “Our team has begun coordinating with security officials to implement pre-planned emergency procedures.”

The statement mentioned that flight data will be examined to determine the cause of the issue, with remarks such as “As always, success comes from learning. Today’s flight will provide us with new lessons to increase the reliability of Starship.”

In a previous statement from the company, it was mentioned that the latest test flight would contribute to addressing the technical shortcomings and improving the performance of Starship.

Starship’s 7th test in January had also started successfully, with the first stage booster Super Heavy successfully returning to the platform as planned. However, the Starship rocket had disintegrated in the air 8 minutes after liftoff.

Known as the most powerful space rocket, the giant 122-meter-long Starship rocket owned by the American space transportation company SpaceX is recognized as the world’s largest and most powerful space rocket. It is stated that Starship is developed with the goal of carrying cargo and humans to Earth’s orbit, the Moon, and Mars.