Communication with the Starship spacecraft is lost: What's happened?

The American company SpaceX reported that it lost the Starship spacecraft, the third test launch of which was carried out yesterday. Communication with the spacecraft was lost at the end of the test flight as it approached the Earth's atmosphere. According to the plan, the spacecraft was supposed to make a near-Earth flight and land in the Indian Ocean.

Contact with the spacecraft was lost 49 minutes into the flight, when the device entered the atmosphere at an altitude of 77 km. The spacecraft began to approach the Persian Gulf, but the expected “hard landing” did not occur. Strong tremors began in Starship, after which contact was interrupted at an altitude of 65 km.

The flight had several goals: launching the spacecraft into low Earth orbit, restarting the Raptor engine in space (done successfully), testing the functionality of the trunk door (it opened and closed successfully), and transporting cryogenic fuel into space, which was also done successfully. The last two tasks are also important for commercial purposes. The spacecraft was then scheduled to enter Earth's atmosphere and make a hard landing in the Indian Ocean, but contact with the spacecraft was lost.

This is the first time Starship has successfully completed a planned flight. During two previous test launches, the spacecraft exploded. The last time in November 2023, the rocket exploded upon separation from the spacecraft. During the first test launch, an explosion occurred during flight.

Starship is a super-heavy, two-stage reusable system consisting of the Super Heavy launch vehicle and the Starship spacecraft, developed by SpaceX. The company expects that in the future the spacecraft will be able to enter orbit and return unscathed. The company also plans to carry out interplanetary flights.