Starship spins out of control in 3rd fiasco

STARBASE, Texas — SpaceX's Starship rocket suffered another failure on Tuesday evening, marking the third straight loss of its next-generation Starship upper stage and dealing a fresh blow to the company's Mars colonization ambitions.

The 122-meter-tall Starship rocket system, the key vehicle for CEO Elon Musk's goal of sending humans to Mars, lifted off from SpaceX's Starbase, Texas, launch site. It flew beyond the point of two explosive attempts earlier this year that sent debris streaking over Caribbean islands and forced dozens of airliners to divert course.

For the latest launch, the ninth full test mission of Starship since the first attempt in April 2023, the upper-stage cruise vessel was lofted to space atop a previously flown booster — a first such demonstration of the booster's reusability.