SpaceX's Starship rocket roared into space from Texas on Tuesday but spun out of control about halfway through its flight without achieving some of its most important testing goals, bringing fresh engineering hurdles to CEO Elon Musk's increasingly turbulent Mars rocket program.

SpaceX's Starship conducted its ninth test flight Tuesday evening, successfully surpassing the outcomes of two prior test flights that ended in explosions. However, the company lost control of the spacecraft midway through its journey.