SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is grounded after fiery touchdown failure

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has grounded SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 rocket following a failed touchdown try throughout a latest Starlink mission. After efficiently carrying the satellites into orbit on Wednesday, the first-stage booster returned to Earth and toppled into the Atlantic Ocean in a fireball shortly after landing, ending a streak of 267 profitable landings.

The FAA has ordered an investigation into the failed landing. “The incident concerned the failure of the Falcon 9 booster rocket whereas touchdown on a droneship at sea. No public accidents or public property injury have been reported,” an FAA spokesperson mentioned in an announcement to Reuters. “A return to flight of the Falcon 9 booster rocket relies on the FAA figuring out that any system, course of, or process associated to the anomaly doesn’t have an effect on public security.”

These investigations are inclined to wrap up pretty shortly, not less than, with SpaceX accountable for conducting the probe itself and the FAA then assessing its findings. That is the second grounding for SpaceX this yr after a liquid oxygen leak within the Falcon 9 booster brought on a “speedy unscheduled disassembly” throughout one other Starlink satellite tv for pc supply mission in July. The FAA permitted the Falcon 9 to be returned to flight simply 15 days later. 

Groundings for SpaceX workhorse rockets are uncommon, with the final one occurring in 2016 previous to the 2 incidents this yr. Based on SpaceX, the precise booster that failed on Wednesday was on its twenty third flight.