The Super Heavy booster, meanwhile, was successfully caught in the launch tower's mechanical arms for only the second time

The upper stage of SpaceX's Starship rocket exploded minutes after launch from Texas on Thursday, leading the aerospace company to declare the vessel a "loss" in the seventh test flight of the heavy-lift spacecraft.

The seventh fully-stacked SpaceX Starship lifted off on time from Starbase, Texas, but eight-and-a-half minutes into flight, things started to go wrong. While the first-stage Super Heavy booster returned to the launch pad for the second time, SpaceX ultimately lost this Starship.