Pakistan, May 28 -- SpaceX's Starship rocket faced another major setback on Tuesday after spinning out of control mid-flight. The massive 400-foot rocket launched from Starbase, Texas, for its ninth test flight but lost stability about 30 minutes into its journey. The rocket had just reached suborbital space when communication was lost, bringing a halt to several mission goals.

The lower-stage booster, a reused part of the rocket, failed to land as planned. SpaceX lost contact during its descent, and it plunged into the sea instead of a controlled splashdown. Meanwhile, Starship's upper stage started spinning wildly. It was supposed to release eight dummy Starlink satellites, but the mechanism failed to work.

SpaceX engineers believe th...