For a company that prides itself on pushing the boundaries in space exploration, SpaceX just hit another major roadblock—literally. The highly anticipated test flight of its Starship mega rocket ended in disaster (again) after controllers lost contact with the upper-stage vehicle just minutes into the launch.

Astronauts orbiting 250 miles above Earth got a front-row seat to destruction on Thursday. During a SpaceX flight test of Starship, the world's most powerful rocket and spacecraft system, NASA 's Don Pettit snapped photos from the International Space Station of the ship blowing up.

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.