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The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on August 28 that it had suspended operations for SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket due to an incident during the latest flight to put Starlink satellites into orbit.
The incident occurred early on the morning of August 27 local time. The Falcon 9 rocket was launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Center, Florida (USA) to carry a group of Starlink internet satellites into low orbit. The launch set a new record for SpaceX, according to which the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket was reused for the 23rd time. This rocket stage returned to Earth and tried to land on an unmanned barge anchored at sea as usual. However, live images showed that during the landing process, this rocket stage collided very hard, burned fiercely and fell into the sea.
"The incident involved the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket failing to land smoothly on a barge. There were no reports of injuries or damage to public property. The FAA has requested an investigation into the incident," an FAA spokesperson said.
SpaceX has not yet announced the status of the booster after the incident. In a post on social media X, SpaceX said experts are evaluating flight data and the state of the booster before making a final conclusion.
The failure was a blow to SpaceX, whose Falcon 9 launch and landing system is considered extremely reliable. Although there was virtually no damage, the failed landing revealed a problem with the Falcon 9 rocket that the agency said could pose a greater risk to future missions if not thoroughly investigated, according to the FAA.
In addition to SpaceX, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) also uses the Falcon 9 for its missions. It is not yet clear how the suspension of this rocket will affect NASA's missions.
NASA's next Falcon 9 mission is scheduled for late September, taking two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on the Crew Dragon spacecraft. Then, in 2025, the spacecraft will take two astronauts who were "stuck" on the ISS due to a fault in Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. However, with the latest Falcon 9 failure, the mission is likely to be delayed.
