SpaceX's massive Starship on Thursday successfully went to space and reentered Earth's atmosphere for the first time during its third and most ambitious test flight thus far.

Why it matters: The test was a major leap for the vehicle, which is essential for NASA's Artemis program. The flight featured technologies critical for any future manned missions to the moon or beyond.

What they did: The spacecraft, the largest ever built, launched from the company's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, around 9:25am ET.

• After liftoff, it successfully separated from its huge booster, which went on to perform a controlled descent flight back to Earth before crashing in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Meanwhile, the spacecraft carried on to perform several tests while in orbit. It opened its payload door and transferred tons of liquid oxygen between two tanks to simulate an in-orbit refueling of the ship.
• After the tests, Starship started a controlled reentry and reentered Earth's atmosphere before SpaceX lost contact with the ship. It was expected to perform a soft landing in the Indian Ocean.
• SpaceX said the ship did not survive reentry.

Starship re-entering Earth's atmosphere. Views through the plasma pic.twitter.com/HEQX4eEHWH

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2024

Zoom in: The failed landing will likely trigger a mishap investigation from the Federal Aviation Administration.

• Such probes are routine after tests don't go according to plan.
• Still, it was a major improvement from previous tests.
• The company likely gathered a lot of data throughout it, which may lead to improvements to the vehicle's design.

Context: The Starship's second test flight last year ended abruptly without meeting the stated goals for the test.

• The vehicle's huge lower-stage booster exploded after a successful separation from the upper-stage spacecraft portion. The upper stage then exploded after reaching an altitude of about 90 miles.
• The first test flight earlier in 2023 ended with another explosion, though that was after the rocket punched a crater through the launchpad and spread debris for miles around the launch site.

Yes, but: Such spectacular blunders have been a part of the company's hardware engineering philosophy: move fast, embrace failures and learn from them.

• The philosophy and its safety considerations have been criticized as cavalier for human spaceflight.
• Still, SpaceX has rapidly become the most prolific human spaceflight provider so far without a catastrophic failure.

What they're saying: "Each of these flight tests continue to be just that: a test," the company said before launch.

• "They aren't occurring in a lab or on a test stand, but are putting flight hardware in a flight environment to maximize learning."

The big picture: NASA has selected the company to carry astronauts to the surface of the moon as early as 2026 on a lander variant of Starship.

• If the company has its way, Starship will one day fly people and cargo even deeper into space to destinations like Mars.
• SpaceX hopes Starship will one day be fully reusable like its Falcon 9 rocket.

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Editor's note: This story was updated with the latest developments in the launch.