The upper stage of SpaceX's Starship rocket exploded minutes after launch from Texas on Thursday, leading the aerospace company to declare the vessel a "loss" in the seventh test flight of the heavy-lift spacecraft.

James Temple was "in the right place at the right time" to take these dramatic images of SpaceX's Starship's seventh flight test disintegrating above the Atlantic Ocean

The Federal Aviation Administration has paused SpaceX's the launch of its Starship rocket as the U.S. agency oversees an investigation by the private company of the breakup after a test launch Thursday.

The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has suspended SpaceX rocket flights following the explosion of the upper stage of the Starship/Super Heavy. An investigation is necessary due to the space debris that fell to Earth after the explosion.