"We saw the Starship 8 breakup in the upper atmosphere and fall back to earth from the ISS," said Pettit, known for his photography from the lofty perch. Starship, a 400-foot-tall

X has run into serious issues trying to get a prototype upper stage of its Starship to launch into orbit, then make a soft landing.

After SpaceX’s Starship rocket exploded during a test flight in January, the company had hoped its nect launch attempt would go better. But again, controllers lost contact with the upper-stage vehicle.