Starship put on a show for skywatchers yet again — but not the way that SpaceX would have liked.
SpaceX launched the eighth test flight of Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, from its Starbase site in South Texas on Thursday evening (March 6).
Starship’s huge first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, came back to Starbase for a launch-tower catch about seven minutes after liftoff as planned. But the vehicle’s 171-foot-tall (52 meters) upper stage — called Starship or just Ship — experienced a serious problem shortly thereafter and ended up exploding over the Atlantic Ocean.
The detonation sent chunks of debris raining down over the area, creating a dazzling artificial meteor shower for people in The Bahamas and Florida’s Space Coast, among other locales.
Something very similar happened during Starship’s Flight 7, which launched on Jan. 16. Many folks in the debris-fall zone posted video of the Flight 7 debris fall on X, the social media site owned by SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk — and history repeated itself on Thursday.
Related: Watch SpaceX Starship explode over Atlantic Ocean on Flight Test 7 (videos)
One of the people with a front-row seat for the Flight 8 fireworks was Stefanie Waldek, a journalist who also happens to be a Space.com contributor.
“I’m on vacation with my family in The Bahamas, specifically in the Exumas. I had followed online the failure of Starship Flight 8, and within a few minutes, I spotted the debris streaking across the sky,” Waldek told Space.com via email.
“I didn’t even think about being beneath the trajectory of the rocket! Fortunately, I knew exactly what we were looking at following Flight 7’s RUD [rapid unscheduled disassembly], and I quickly explained to those around me that we weren’t under attack, nor was the rocket crewed,” she added. “The light show was completely silent — we didn’t hear anything. But the reflection on the water from the burning debris was quite pretty!”
RIP Starship 8! Great view from the Bahamas. @SpaceX #spacex #starship8 pic.twitter.com/8p2Dcx5gbzMarch 6, 2025
An X user with the handle GeneDoctorB also recorded the sky show from The Bahamas, posting several videos of the event on X. “How would you like to see this above your #catamaran?” one of them was captioned.
How would you like to see this above your #catamaran ? #SpaceX #Elon #starship8 pic.twitter.com/xCjntoUoTZMarch 7, 2025
Photographer Trevor Mahlmann, meanwhile, watched Flight 8 from Titusville, on Florida’s Space Coast — the home of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
He captured the moment that Ship exploded and shared it with us on X. “RIP Starship Flight 8, just caught it exploding after a few engines cut off and it losing attitude control, viewed from Titusville, FL,” Mahlmann wrote.
RIP Starship Flight 8, just caught it exploding after a few engines cut off and it losing attitude control, viewed from Titusville, FL🚀 pic.twitter.com/VBBtApjsd7March 6, 2025
SpaceX determined that they Flight 7 mishap was caused by propellant leaks, which led to sustained fires in the Ship upper stage. It’s too soon to say what happened on Flight 8, but the company is already investigating.
“During Starship’s ascent burn, the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost. 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 cause. As always, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will offer additional lessons to improve Starship’s reliability,” SpaceX said via X this evening.
