SpaceX launched its Starship mega-rocket for the seventh time. It achieve an epic booster catch but the ship was lost.

The Federal Aviation Administration has paused SpaceX's the launch of its Starship rocket as the U.S. agency oversees an investigation by the private company of the breakup after a test launch Thursday.

SpaceX pulled off its “chopsticks” catch of a Super Heavy rocket booster but lost the Starship spacecraft on Thursday during the vehicle’s seventh uncrewed test flight.

Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, pulled off a daring booster catch on its most ambitious test flight yet, but the spacecraft was lost. Follow for the latest news.

The rocket company said the space vehicle came apart during its ascent. Videos posted to social media showed debris streaking through the sky.

SpaceX launched Starship on Thursday for a seventh test flight, after weather concerns pushed back an experiment that will feature the spacecraft’s first payload deployment test, and while it successfully caught the Super Heavy Booster, Starship lost connection and “experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly.”

The "rapid unscheduled disassembly" was likely caused by a propellant leak, Elon Musk said, and was captured on video by spectators on the ground.

SpaceX's seventh Starship test flight will now launch no earlier than Thursday, Jan. 16, at 5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT).

The Super Heavy booster, meanwhile, was successfully caught in the launch tower's mechanical arms for only the second time

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The upper stage of SpaceX's Starship rocket exploded minutes after launch from Texas on Thursday, leading the aerospace company to declare the vessel a "loss" in the seventh test flight of the heavy-lift spacecraft.