Starship, the world's most powerful rocket, flew further and faster than ever before during its third test flight Thursday, although it was eventually lost as it re-entered the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, SpaceX said.

Lift-off from the company's Starbase in southeast Texas came around 8:25 am local time (1325 GMT) and was carried live on a webcast that was eventually watched by more than 3.5 million people on social media platform X.

SpaceX scrubbed a launch attempt Wednesday night with just over 2 minutes on the countdown clock. The mission was set to send up another batch of Starlink satellites from the Space Coast using a first-stage booster for a record-tying 19th time.

SpaceX did not give a reason for the scrub, or say if it plans to try for its previously announced backup date on Thursday.

If it does, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 of SpaceX's internet satellites flying from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-A could fly during a four-hour window Thursday that opens at 7:04 p.m.

Space Launch Delta 45's weather squadron forecasts a 95% chance for good conditions with the delay to Thursday.

The first-stage booster could equal the total number of flights by two of SpaceX's other boosters, one of which, though, was destroyed when it toppled over at sea.

This booster's resume includes two human spaceflights, the Inspiration4 orbital mission flown by billionaire Jared Issacman and the first private spaceflight for Axiom Space on its Ax-1 mission to the International Space Station. It has also flown the GPS III Space Vehicle 04, GPS III Space Vehicle 05, Nilesat 301, OneWeb Launch 17, ARABSAT BADR-8 and 11 Starlink missions.