Seven minutes later, Starship's huge first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, returned to Starbase for a dramatic catch by the launch tower's "chopstick" arms. It was the third time that SpaceX has demonstrated this jaw-dropping technique.

Elon Musk aims to change spaceflight forever with Starship, but SpaceX hasn't quite gotten the rocket right. Starship flight 8 lost control Thursday.

The vehicle, intended for a controlled descent into the Indian Ocean, instead fell into a spin, and SpaceX lost contact.

"The light show was completely silent — we didn’t hear anything. But the reflection on the water from the burning debris was quite pretty!"

The failure of a SpaceX Starship test flight on Thursday scattered debris over parts of the Caribbean, prompting numerous flight diversions around Turks and Caicos and temporary ground stops at four Florida airports.