So far, the consequences of these failures have not been lethal. But space remains a difficult, hazardous game. Reentering debris from a Falcon 9 upper stage could have struck someone in Poland. God forbid, a second stage could fail early in a crewed mission.

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.

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.