SpaceX is preparing to launch the eighth flight of Starship on Monday, with the goal of completing the objectives set out during Flight 7 when Ship 33 was lost during its post-staging burn. Flight 8 will attempt the third successful booster catch, while Ship 34 will splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

The test flight will be a repeat of what SpaceX hoped to achieve on the previous Starship launch in January, when the rocket broke apart and showered debris over the Atlantic Ocean and Turks and Caicos Islands.

The most recent flight took place on Jan. 16. That mission was a partial success; SpaceX successfully caught Starship's giant first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, with the "chopstick" arms of the Starbase launch tower as planned.

"The most probable root cause for the loss of ship was identified as a harmonic response several times stronger in flight than had been seen during testing, which led to increased stress on hardware in the propulsion system.