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.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and officials from the Turks and Caicos Islands are investigating SpaceXs Starship explosion, which sent debris across the northern Caribbean and forced flight diversions.

The Super Heavy booster, meanwhile, was successfully caught in the launch tower's mechanical arms for only the second time

The FAA says it has grounded the Starship vehicle pending a mishap investigation, and it’s working with SpaceX to assess reports of property damage in Turks and Caicos.

While the Starship is lost, the mission's first-stage booster successfully returned to the launch tower, where it was caught by the tower's robotic arms.

She said initially she thought maybe it was fireworks off in the distance, but the explosion's streaks kept crawling across the sky with amazing colors.

SpaceX's Starship mega-rocket exploded midair on Thursday, after which the FAA warned pilots of dangerous debris.

The explosion of a SpaceX rocket shortly after liftoff forced detours for dozens of planes as debris fell from the sky around the Turks and Caicos islands. Some of the planes had to declare fuel emergencies.

Friday 17 January, 2024: On Thursday 16 January 2025, debris from a failed SpaceX launch impacted the Turks and Caicos Islands. In the immediacy of the outfall, the Turks and Caicos Islands Airport Authority diverted all flights in TCI airspace as well as grounded all flights until an all

A group of people visiting the Turks and Caicos islands captured video of debris from the failed SpaceX rocket flying overhead, as the wreckage left behind a colorful stream of smoke.