SpaceX put on a brave face about the situation, although the booster, at five flights, was a relative spring chicken compared to others in the company's fleet. The rocket biz said: "While disappointing to lose a rocket after a successful mission, the team will use the data to make Falcon even more reliable on ascent and landing."

SpaceX is targeting a late Wednesday night launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying Starlink internet satellites to low Earth orbit.