New SpaceX rocket launch: Spacecraft lost but booster 'caught'

It was a set of mixed results for the rocket launch

One of the world's biggest games of catch was played in Texas on Friday morning... but with a rocket booster instead of a ball.

The space company SpaceX launched its new giant rocket, called the Starship, as part of a test flight that was viewed online by more than seven million people.

But problems developed soon after the launch, with the upper stage of the Starship breaking apart as it flew into the sky.

The rocket was remotely controlled, and so there were no people on board the craft.

The company did manage to 'catch' the rocket booster as planned, with it returning to its launchpad where it was caught mid-air by a huge pair of mechanical arms.

It was the seventh test flight for the Starship rocket, and it's part of Space X's plans to develop a reusable way of getting people in and out of space.

The company thinks that the mission failure was caused by a fire developing in a part of the spacecraft, which led the upper stage of the vehicle to fall apart eight minutes into the test launch.

Space X is run by Elon Musk, owner of the social media platform X, who posted there that "improved versions" of the ship and booster were "already waiting for launch".

The company posted a launch report on its website, saying that "success comes from what we learn, and this flight test will help us improve Starship's reliability".

These orange bursts of light were spotted over the Turks and Caicos Islands, which some people think are the trails of the rocket that broke apart

It's been a big week for rocket launches, with the Blue Ghost Mission sending up important equipment for Nasa to run experiments on the Moon, and a company called Blue Origin launching a new rocket test.

It came after the company, owned by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, had to delay the launch due to technical problems.

Closer to home, the UK's new spaceport in the Shetland islands was given approval for the first spaceport rocket launch in Europe.

German rocket builders Rocket Factory Augsburg were handed the first license, and they're confident the first test flight from the Shetlands will take place in 2025.