Starship — the spacecraft that Elon Musk says will one day take people to Mars — failed again during its eighth test flight on Thursday.

It was the second consecutive test flight of the most powerful rocket ever built where the upper-stage spacecraft malfunctioned. It started spinning out of control after several engines went out and then lost contact with mission control.

The rocket lifted off a little after 6:30 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday from the SpaceX site known as Starbase along the Gulf Coast at the southern tip of Texas near the city of Brownsville.

The launch had been scheduled for Monday evening, but the countdown halted with about 30 seconds to go when some sensor readings were not quite right. Several minutes later, the launch attempt was called off.

After several days of repairs, the company said Starship was ready to try again with what was to be largely a do-over of the seventh flight, which launched in January.

On Thursday, Starship’s mammoth booster, or the bottom of the rocket, again successfully returned to the launchpad, just as it had during the previous test flight. It was the third successful catch of the booster by large mechanical arms on the launch tower that are nicknamed “chopsticks.” But during the January flight, the upper-stage spacecraft disintegrated over the Caribbean, with some debris landing on the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.