The US has grounded SpaceX's giant Starship rocket while an investigation is carried out into why it exploded during its latest 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.

Commercial airlines had to divert or delay their flights to avoid debris from the SpaceX Starship spacecraft that exploded Thursday during a flight test.

In a statement following the accident, the FAA said that it was working with SpaceX and other authorities to confirm the property damage caused by the debris that fell in the Turks and Islands

While Elon Musk’s spaceflight company repeated a spectacular catch of its powerful booster stage, the upper stage experienced a catastrophic malfunction.

The United States on Friday grounded SpaceX's Starship and ordered Elon Musk's company to investigate why the spaceship spectacularly disintegrated in a fiery cascade over the Caribbean during its latest test mission.