Falcon 9 Grounded After Landing Failure

By Joey Roulette

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on Wednesday that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has been grounded following a failure during a routine Starlink mission.

The Falcon 9 successfully launched a batch of Starlink internet satellites from Florida early Wednesday. However, its reusable first stage booster attempted to land on a sea-faring barge but toppled into the ocean after a fiery touchdown, as displayed in a SpaceX live stream.

“The incident involved the failure of the Falcon 9 booster rocket while landing on a droneship at sea. No public injuries or property damage have been reported. The FAA is requiring an investigation,” stated an FAA spokesperson.

Groundings of the Falcon 9, a crucial rocket for satellite launches and human spaceflight, are rare. The last grounding occurred in July due to a second-stage failure that compromised a batch of Starlink satellites.

While no satellites or crew were at risk during Wednesday’s flight, the landing failure suggests that the rocket may have a significant issue requiring investigation to mitigate risks in future missions.

This grounding could postpone SpaceX’s planned Polaris Dawn mission, which involves four private astronauts preparing for the first private spacewalk. This mission had already been delayed by a launchpad hitch and bad weather.

Following the July grounding, SpaceX resumed Falcon 9 flights just 15 days later, after receiving FAA approval for an expedited return.

Falcon 9 is also scheduled to launch NASA astronauts in late September, bringing home two astronauts currently on the International Space Station, who arrived via the troubled Boeing Starliner spacecraft.

It remains unclear how the current grounding will impact this NASA mission, as the agency has not commented publicly.

Since its first launch in 2010, SpaceX has developed a large fleet of reusable Falcon boosters, allowing a significant lead in launch frequency. The booster that failed on Wednesday had completed 23 flights.

“After a successful ascent, Falcon 9’s first stage booster tipped over following touchdown on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship,” SpaceX stated.

Another Starlink mission planned shortly after Wednesday’s flight was cancelled due to the landing failure.

The FAA regulates private rockets to ensure the safety of the public. They mandated that SpaceX conduct an investigation, which the FAA will supervise.

“A return to flight of the Falcon 9 booster rocket is based on the FAA determining that any system, process, or procedure related to the anomaly does not affect public safety,” the FAA remarked.