US has grounded SpaceX’s Starship after test flight explosion

The US has grounded SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket as it investigates why it exploded on its final test flight.

The rocket’s upper stage dramatically broke off and disintegrated over the Caribbean after it launched from Texas on Thursday, forcing airline flights to divert to catch the debris.

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

Elon Musk’s company has been told by the aviation regulator to conduct an “accident” investigation and will review the findings before deciding whether Starship can return to flight.

The FAA confirmed it had activated a “debris response area” to slow down aircraft outside the area where the debris fellor prevent aircraft from leaving departure locations.

Additionally, several planes were asked to divert due to low fuel levels while staying out of the affected area.

Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, and is key to Musk’s plans to colonize Mars.

Thursday’s unmanned launch was Starship’s seventh test mission, and the first with a taller, upgraded version of the rocket.

The Starship upper stage, two meters taller than previous versions, was a “new-generation ship with significant innovations,” SpaceX said before the test.

A controlled discharge into the Indian Ocean was to take place about an hour after 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 the flight.

But then SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot announced in a live stream that the mission team had lost contact with the spacecraft.

The Super Heavy booster managed to return to its launcher roughly seven minutes after liftoff, as planned, to applause from ground control teams.

SpaceX later confirmed that the upper stage underwent an “unscheduled rapid disassembly.”

In a post on his social media platform X, Musk said “preliminary indications” were that the problem was related to “an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship’s engine firewall.”

The millionaire added that “so far nothing suggests the next launch beyond next month”.

SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket – collectively known as Starship – is 123m (403ft) tall and is intended to be fully reusable, the company says.

Nasa hopes to use a modified version of the rocket as a human lunar lander for the Artemis missions to return to the Moon.

In the more distant future, Musk wants Starship to make long trips to Mars and back — about nine months each way.

Thursday’s Starship test launch came hours after the first flight of the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket system, accompanied by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

It was a big step forward for Bezos and his company, which has been trying to send a rocket into orbit for years.

Bezos and Musk both want to dominate the space vehicle market.