The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has grounded SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 rocket following a failed landing attempt during a recent Starlink mission. After successfully delivering satellites to orbit on Wednesday, the first-stage rocket returned to Earth and plunged into the Atlantic Ocean in a fireball shortly after touchdown, ending a streak of 267 successful landings.
The FAA has ordered an investigation into the failed landing. “The incident involved the failure of the Falcon 9 rocket booster upon landing on an unmanned aircraft at sea. No public injuries or damage to public property have been reported,” an FAA spokesperson said. technology/space/spacexs-falcon-9-grounded-after-failing-landing-attempt-2024-08-28/”>In a statement to Reuters“The return to flight of the Falcon 9 rocket is contingent upon the FAA determining that any system, process or procedure related to the anomaly does not affect public safety.”
These investigations tend to wrap up fairly quickly, at least since SpaceX is responsible for making the probe and then the FAA evaluates its findings. This is SpaceX’s second stop this year after a liquid oxygen leak on the Falcon 9 rocket caused an “unscheduled rapid disassembly” during another Starlink satellite delivery mission in July. The FAA allowed the Falcon 9 to fly again just 15 days later.
Hard landings of SpaceX's battle rockets are rare, with the last one occurring in 2016 before the two incidents this year. x.com/SpaceX/status/1828705304177234126″>According to SpaceXThe rocket that failed Wednesday was on its 23rd flight.
