Third test flight of SpaceX’s mega rocket ends with loss of spacecraft

Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built (Eric Gay/AP)

SpaceX came close to completing an hourlong test flight of its mega rocket on its third try on Thursday, but the spacecraft was lost as it descended back to Earth.

The company said it lost contact with the spacecraft as it neared its goal, a splashdown in the Indian Ocean, about an hour after lift-off from the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border.