A SpaceX Starship's upper stage exploded minutes after launch from Texas on Thursday, and the rocket was declared a "loss" in the seventh test flight of the heavy-lift spacecraft. The mission was unmanned.

After the successful booster recovery, SpaceX officials reported losing contact with the spaceship toward the end of the ascend.

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.

James Temple was "in the right place at the right time" to take these dramatic images of SpaceX's Starship's seventh flight test disintegrating above the Atlantic Ocean

The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has suspended SpaceX rocket flights following the explosion of the upper stage of the Starship/Super Heavy. An investigation is necessary due to the space debris that fell to Earth after the explosion.