The FAA approved SpaceX to resume flights of its mainstay Falcon 9 rocket after a being grounded about two weeks ago following a rare inflight failure.
The Federal Aviation Administration has approved SpaceX to resume flights of its mainstay Falcon 9 rocket after a being grounded about two weeks ago following a rare inflight failure.SpaceX cited the rocket's brief hiatus as due to its rapid launch pace and"unprecedented levels of flight data" from nearly a decade of over 300 consecutive successful orbital launches.
The Federal Aviation Administration has approved SpaceX to resume flights of its mainstay Falcon 9 rocket after a brief grounding, with"The FAA determined no public safety issues were involved" in the July 11 mishap, the regulator said in a statement to CNBC late ThursdayThe hiatus was unusually brief following a flight failure, but SpaceX argued the rocket's rapid launch pace – on average every two to three days this year – and"unprecedented levels of flight data" from...
"Safety and reliability are at the core of SpaceX's operations. It would not have been possible to achieve our current cadence without this focus," the company wrote in aDuring the July 11 launch, the rocket's lower first stage, or booster – powered by 9 engines – operated as expected before returning to land. But the rocket's upper second stage, which has a single engine, failed to reignite as planned and was unable to complete its mission.
SpaceX traced the cause of the midflight failure to a tube known as a"sense line," a part of the rocket's system for liquid oxygen, one of the propellants used to power the engine of the second stage. A loose clamp for that tube and the intense vibration of the rocket's engine led to cracking, the company said. That cracked sense line resulted in a leak of liquid oxygen, causing damage to the rocket's engine when it attempted to restart in space.
"An additional qualification review, inspection, and scrub of all sense lines and clamps on the active booster fleet led to a proactive replacement in select locations," SpaceX added.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
FAA investigating SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket anomalyMichael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, 'Out There,' was published on Nov. 13, 2018.
Read more »
SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets grounded pending FAA investigation into Starlink launch failureThe engine failure blamed for stranding 20 Starlink satellites in a low, non-survivable orbit was caused by a liquid oxygen leak.
Read more »
SpaceX wants to resume Falcon 9 rocket launches while FAA completes investigationElizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time.
Read more »
SpaceX asks FAA to return Falcon 9 rocket to launching after mishapThe Falcon 9 had a near flawless record until last week, when SpaceX suffered a rare failure after launching from California. With 364 successful Falcon 9 launches, SpaceX hasn’t suffered a mission failure since a cargo resupply mission in 2015 exploded after liftoff from Florida.
Read more »
FAA approves SpaceX to resume Falcon 9 rocket launches after two-week hiatusThe FAA approved SpaceX to resume flights of its mainstay Falcon 9 rocket after a being grounded about two weeks ago following a rare inflight failure.
Read more »
SpaceX’s prolific Falcon 9 rocket grounded after failed missionSpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket experienced a rare failure en route to orbit Thursday while hauling a batch of Starlink satellites.
Read more »