The Federal Aviation Administration opened the investigation after a rocket booster toppled aboard a drone ship after it was returning from lofting SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites into space.
The Federal Aviation Administration opened the investigation after a rocket booster toppled aboard a drone ship after it was returning from lofting SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites into space.The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets - like this one set to take the Polaris Dawn crew to orbit. The move by the FAA comes after a Falcon 9 booster rocket fell into the sea as it tried to land on an uncrewed drone ship on Wednesday.
The booster that failed took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the early morning hours. It was part of a mission to deliver more satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, which provides Internet from orbit.The launch appeared to go smoothly: The upper stage separated from the large first stage booster rocket, and as expected the booster began to return to Earth where it was set to land on the uncrewed drone ship named “A Shortfall of Gravitas.
But as the booster relit its engines to set down on the deck of the ship, an uncontrolled fire appeared to bellow out from its underside. Seconds later, the rocket stage tipped into the Atlantic Ocean.In its statement the FAA said that the Falcon 9 would be grounded until the investigation was complete. “An investigation is designed to further enhance public safety, determine the root cause of the event, and identify corrective actions to avoid it from happening again,” the agency said.
This is the second grounding of the Falcon 9 rocket in recent months. The FAA grounded the rocket on July 12, after its second stage failed to relight properly during another Starlink launch. That grounding lasted around two weeks., which had hoped to launch as early as Friday. The investigation could also have implications for the International Space Station. NASA had hoped to send two astronauts to the station in late September aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.
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