US grounds SpaceX's Starship amid investigation into explosion during test flight

The U.S. has grounded SpaceX’s Starship rocket as an investigation is underway into the cause of its explosion during a recent test flight.

The rocket's upper stage dramatically broke up and disintegrated over the Caribbean after launching from Texas on Thursday, forcing airline flights to alter course to avoid falling debris, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was working with SpaceX and other authorities to confirm reports of property damage on the Turks and Caicos Islands. There were no reports of injuries.

Elon Musk's company has been told to carry out a "mishap" investigation by the regulator, which will review the findings before deciding if Starship can return to flight.

The FAA confirmed it had activated a "debris response area" to briefly slow aircraft outside the area where debris was falling, or stop aircraft from leaving their departure locations.

It added that several aircraft asked to divert due to low fuel levels while being held outside the affected area.

Starship is the biggest, most powerful rocket ever built, and is key to Musk's ambitions of colonising Mars.

Thursday's uncrewed launch was Starship's seventh test mission, and the first involving a taller, upgraded version of the rocket.

The Starship upper stage, two metres (6.56 ft) taller than previous versions, was a "new generation ship with significant upgrades", SpaceX said before the test.

It was due to make a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean roughly an hour after its launch from Boca Chica, Texas.

The Starship system lifted off at 17:38 EST (22:38 GMT) and the upper stage separated from its Super Heavy booster nearly four minutes into flight as planned.

But then SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot reported on a live stream that mission teams had lost contact with the ship.

The Super Heavy booster managed to return to its launchpad roughly seven minutes after lift-off as planned, prompting an eruption of applause from ground control teams.

SpaceX later confirmed the upper stage had undergone "rapid unscheduled disassembly".

News.Az