SpaceX's Starship Explodes During Flight, Debris Rains Down on Bahamas in Video

SpaceX's Starship didn't have a very efficient launch ... 'cause instead of staying in one piece in space, the whole thing came apart -- and, it's now raining down on the Bahamas.

The ship -- which took off for it's 8th test launch Thursday -- made it into space ... but, the SpaceX crew then lost "attitude control of the ship" and only two of the ship's six engines were functioning properly.

The ground crew then lost contact with the ship ... and, many only saw it again when its fiery debris came raining down from the sky.

Check out the videos ... the pieces are lighting up the dark sky, heading back toward Earth with quite a bit of speed.

The debris is causing quite a bit of chaos, as you can imagine ... with air traffic controllers rerouting planes away from the impacted areas. This explosion largely mirrors another failed test launch back in January -- where debris fell in a similar area.

It's not totally clear what caused the "rapid unscheduled disassembly" as SpaceX called it ... but, ya gotta think Elon Musk isn't jumping for joy about this one.