The "rapid unscheduled disassembly" of Elon Musk's Starship sparked chaos as some airspace throughout the Caribbean was closed for an hour and a half.

SpaceX suspects a fire may have caused its Starship to break apart during liftoff and send trails of flaming debris near the Caribbean.

Elon Musk’s Starship prototype has broken up during its seventh launch attempt, sending fiery debris streaking through the sky above the Caribbean and grounding nearby aircraft.

A Sheffield couple on an idyllic Caribbean island were shocked to find what appears to be Starship debris all over the beach.

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

Flights across the Caribbean were hastily diverted on Thursday following the explosion of a rocket built by Elon Musk's company, SpaceX. The chaos was revealed in flight tracking data and audio exchanges between pilots and air traffic control, as reviewed by NPR.

Evasive Maneuvers While it may have provided an eye-popping spectacle for spectators on the ground, the mid-flight explosion of SpaceX's Starship on Thursday evening posed a serious threat to nearby aircraft.

The US has grounded SpaceX's giant Starship rocket while an investigation is carried out into why one 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.

The agency launched an investigation into the “space vehicle mishap” on Thursday night that forced commercial flights to divert and caused debris to rain toward Caribbean islands.

Despite the failure, Elon Musk appeared to see the bright side, posting: "Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!"

Disruption from increasing rocket launches is becoming a growing issue for commercial airlines

Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, pulled off a daring booster catch on its most ambitious test flight yet, but the spacecraft was lost. Follow for the latest news.