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A video shot from a plane that appears to show the moment Elon Musk's Starship rocket exploded is going viral on X. Starship 8, which launched over the Caribbean on Thursday, exploded after what SpaceX described as an "energetic event in the aft (or rear) portion of Starship.

Space companies need Starship's super-heavy heft to fly human habitats and mining equipment to the moon. The rocket just suffered a major setback.

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.

SpaceX's latest Starship to attempt to reach space exploded nine minutes after its launch this week, leaving a trail of debris in its wake. Airports in Florida were forced to halt flights as the threat from impacts extended south to the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands.

Thursday's test flight, with the launch window opening at 6:30 p.m. ET, will attempt to deploy four Starlink simulators from the megarocket.

The new version of Starship will be tested again in four to six weeks. A third consecutive failure could indicate fundamental problems with the updated design.

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