SpaceX's huge Super Heavy-Starship rocket successfully boosted its unpiloted upper stage into space Thursday. The rocket was lost once it entered Earth's atmosphere. CBS News space analyst Bill Hardwood reports.

The roar was deafening.

A pillar of fire and smoke engulfed the launchpad as Starship, the behemoth of a rocket, ascended with breathtaking power.

Millions watched, breathless, as the gargantuan spacecraft cleaved through the atmosphere, leaving a contrail that snaked across the azure canvas.

The successful launch, after years of anticipation, hype, and setbacks, was a momentous occasion, a triumph of human ingenuity and ambition.

The cheers erupted globally as Starship reached orbit, proving its capabilities in a display of raw, untamed power.

The orbital phase went flawlessly.

The tests performed flawlessly, data streamed back to Earth confirming the success of the mission.

But the jubilation was short-lived.

The nail-biting part was yet to come: the re-entry.

Re-entry into Earth's atmosphere is notoriously difficult.

The friction generates immense heat, requiring a complex thermal protection system.

For Starship, a vehicle designed for interplanetary travel, this phase represented a massive technological hurdle.

Initially, the re-entry seemed promising.

The spacecraft's trajectory looked good, the initial deceleration progressing as planned.

Then, disaster struck.

What happened remains shrouded in a mixture of speculation and official investigation, but somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico, the communications went silent.

Live feeds cut out, replaced by static and anxious silence.

Later analyses would suggest a variety of potential causes – a failure in the heat shield, an aerodynamic instability, a problem with the guidance system, or perhaps a combination of factors.

The sheer speed and heat generated during re-entry create a margin of error that is extraordinarily thin.

One small miscalculation, one unforeseen anomaly, can be catastrophic.

Fragments of the spacecraft were later recovered, scattered across a wide area.

The debris field suggested a violent breakup, a testament to the immense forces at play during the descent.

The loss of Starship, while devastating, provided invaluable data.

Each piece recovered, each sensor reading analyzed, represented a step towards understanding the complexities of hypersonic re-entry.

The world mourned the loss, but not the ambition.

The failure was a stark reminder of the challenges involved in space travel, especially the immense difficulties in safely returning colossal spacecraft from the vacuum of space.

SpaceX, undeterred, immediately shifted to analyzing the data and refining the design.

The Starship program was not over; it had simply encountered a significant setback, a crucial learning opportunity in its long journey towards making humanity a multi-planetary species.

The launch had been a success, but the landing, the ultimate test, had yet to be achieved.