Starship 's two stages separated as planned on Flight 9, and the upper stage even reached space, which was an improvement over the giant vehicle's most recent two flights. But SpaceX ended up losing both stages before they could accomplish their full flight goals.

On Tuesday afternoon, just a few hours before a launch attempt of the ninth flight test of SpaceX's Starship vehicle, Elon Musk spoke with Ars Technica Senior Space Editor Eric Berger to talk about where his space company goes from here.

After back-to-back Starship upper stage failures, SpaceX on Tuesday again launched the world's most powerful rocket, but faced new problems.

Much was riding on Flight 9 for Elon Musk’s giant moon and Mars rocket after debris from January and March flights fell into the Atlantic Ocean, disrupting air travel.

The partially successful test followed two earlier failures, posing challenges for Elon Musk’s grand vision for the large spacecraft.

The mid-flight loss of SpaceX’s Starship — its third consecutive setback — underscores the daunting challenges Elon Musk faces in achieving his lofty space ambitions as the world’s richest person pledges to refocus on his business empire.