SpaceX's Falcon 9 grounded after failed landing during Starlink mission – VIDEO
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on Wednesday that SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket has been grounded after failing to land back on Earth during a routine Starlink mission.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 successfully launched a batch of Starlink internet satellites into orbit early on Wednesday morning from Florida. The rocket's reusable first stage booster returned to Earth and attempted to land on a sea-faring barge as usual, but toppled into the ocean after a fiery touchdown, a SpaceX live stream showed.
"The incident involved the failure of the Falcon 9 booster rocket while landing on a droneship at sea. No public injuries or public property damage have been reported. The FAA is requiring an investigation," an FAA spokesperson said.
#SpaceX #Falcon9 launch vehicle fell into the ocean for the first time in three and a half years
— News.Az (@news_az) August 29, 2024
This is the first case of an unsuccessful landing of a multiple booster since February 2021, which interrupted a series of 267 successful landings. pic.twitter.com/uDbgbDHfoF
Groundings of Falcon 9, a rocket that much of the Western world relies on to put satellites and humans in space, are rare. The rocket was last grounded in July for the first time since 2016, following a second-stage failure in space that doomed a batch of Starlink satellites.
Though no satellites or people were endangered during Wednesday's flight, the landing failure indicated something in the rocket went wrong that the FAA tends to believe could pose a greater risk in future missions if not thoroughly investigated.
The rocket's grounding could delay the launch of SpaceX's high-profile Polaris Dawn mission with four private astronauts who are poised to attempt the first private spacewalk. The Polaris mission had been expected to launch this week but was delayed by a launchpad hitch, and then again over bad weather.
After the July grounding, SpaceX returned Falcon 9 to flight 15 days later, after the FAA granted the company's request for an expedited return to flight.
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