Elisha Sauers Elisha Sauers writes about space for Mashable, taking deep dives into NASA's moon and Mars missions, chatting up astronauts and history-making discoverers, and jetting above the clouds. Through 17 years of reporting, she's covered a variety of topics, including health, business, and government, with a penchant for public records requests. She previously worked for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia, and The Capital in Annapolis, Maryland. Her work has earned numerous state awards, including the Virginia Press Association's top honor, Best in Show, and national recognition for narrative storytelling. For each year she has covered space, Sauers has won National Headliner Awards, including first place for her Sex in Space series. Send space tips and story ideas to [email protected] Watch SpaceX exquisitely set free a pair of moon landers in space Starship, a 400-foot-tall, super-heavy-lift rocket and spaceship, blasted off shortly after 4:30 p.m. CST / 5:30 p.m. EST / 2:30 p.m. PST from the aerospace company's private space port in Boca Chica, Texas. The test flight was the rocket system's seventh, and was broadcast on both SpaceX's website and X, the social platform acquired by the business' billionaire founder Elon Musk. You May Also Like Starship's expected one-hour test went awry when controllers lost communication with the ship about 8.5 minutes into flight — long before the spacecraft's intended splashdown in the Indian Ocean. Videos on X reportedly showed it breaking up and re-entering Earth's atmosphere, including a clip shared by Musk. It was not immediately known whether any damages resulted from raining debris. "We are obviously bummed out about Ship," said Dan Huot, a SpaceX spokesman and launch commentator. "Reminder: It's a test, it's a flight test, it's an experimental vehicle, so we'll figure out what ended our day today and make sure that doesn't end our day tomorrow." Mechanical arms at the Starship launch tower successfully catch the returned booster during the seventh flight test on Jan. 16. Credit: SpaceX screenshot SpaceX has faced criticism for its previous Starship test failures. Its executives insist that building fast, destroying expensive hardware, and learning quickly from mistakes are all part of the company's philosophy — in stark contrast with NASA's much slower approach. Mashable Light Speed