While Jeff Bezos has spent $14 billion to achieve his first space launch, his billionaire rival has built a thriving business, mostly with other people’s money.

SpaceX launched its Starship mega-rocket for the seventh time. It achieve an epic booster catch but the ship was lost.

SpaceX pulled off its “chopsticks” catch of a Super Heavy rocket booster but lost the Starship spacecraft on Thursday during the vehicle’s seventh uncrewed test flight.

The company says that “Starship flew within its designated launch corridor” and “any surviving pieces of debris would have fallen into the designated hazard area.” The falling debris put on a show in the evening sky over the Caribbean and was captured by several tourists who seemed both amazed and slightly anxious about what they were witnessing.

The seventh test flight of SpaceX’s Starship ended with a successful landing of the rocket’s first stage but also the loss of the Starship vehicle

Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, pulled off a daring booster catch on its most ambitious test flight yet, but the spacecraft was lost. Follow for the latest news.

The rocket company said the space vehicle came apart during its ascent. Videos posted to social media showed debris streaking through the sky.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 27 Starlink craft is scheduled to lift off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base Sunday, during a 3.5-hour window that opens at 10:35 a.m. EST (1535 GMT; 7:35 a.m. local time). SpaceX will webcast the action live via its X account, beginning about five minutes before launch.

SpaceX, the private space technology company owned by Elon Musk, is asking federal authorities to approve a new round of tests for a prototype reusable rocket, but some of them may never make it back to the surface intact and will crash in the ocean.

The explosion of the SpaceX Starship rocket over the Caribbean Islands forced flight delays and diversions and may have caused property damage below.