SpaceX, the space transportation company owned by Elon Musk, has 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 Turkish time. The first-stage booster, Super Heavy, with reusability feature, returned to the Earth 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 ascent, stating that “our team has started coordinating with safety authorities to implement planned emergency procedures.”

The statement mentioned that flight data would be examined to determine the cause of the issue, and it was noted that “as always, success comes from what we learn. Today’s flight will provide new lessons to enhance the reliability of Starship.”

In a previous statement by the company, it was said that the latest test flight would contribute to resolving the known technical shortcomings of Starship and improving its performance. In its 7th test in January, Starship successfully started but disintegrated 8 minutes after liftoff.

Known as the most powerful space rocket, the massive 122-meter-long Starship rocket belongs to the US space transportation company SpaceX. Starship is known to be the world’s largest and most powerful space rocket, developed with the goal of transporting cargo and humans to Earth’s orbit, the Moon, and Mars.