SpaceX Grounds Its Falcon 9 After First-stage Booster Catches Fire

On Wednesday, 28 August, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FFA) announced that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket had been grounded after a failed landing attempt during a routine Starlink mission. This marks the company’s second grounding this year.

Falcon 9 First-stage Booster Ignited

The Falcon 9 successfully launched a set of Starlink internet satellites into orbit early Wednesday morning from Florida. The rocket’s reusable first-stage booster attempted to land on a sea-based barge. However, it tipped into the ocean after a fiery landing, as seen on a SpaceX live stream.

“After a successful ascent, Falcon 9’s first stage booster tipped over following touchdown on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship. Teams are assessing the booster’s flight data and status,” said SpaceX on X.

A Rare Case Of The Falcon 9 Grounding

This mission was the 23rd flight for the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage, setting a new reuse record for SpaceX. However, it also ended the company’s streak of 267 consecutive successful landings of their launch vehicles.

Groundings of the Falcon 9, a rocket crucial to launching satellites and humans into space for much of the Western world, are uncommon. Notably, the last grounding happened in July, marking the first since 2016. According to Reuters, it was caused by a second-stage failure in space, which led to the loss of a batch of Starlink satellites.

FFA’s Assessment Of The Incident

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration pointed out that the landing failure revealed potential issues with the rocket. The FAA believes that future missions could face increased risks without a thorough investigation into the cause of the crash.

“The incident involved the failure of the Falcon 9 booster rocket while landing on a droneship at sea,” an FAA spokesperson commented. “No public injuries or public property damage have been reported. The FAA is requiring an investigation.”

What’s Next?

Unfortunately, the rocket’s grounding could postpone the launch of SpaceX’s highly anticipated Polaris Dawn mission. Earlier, we wrote that this mission was initially expected to launch this week but faced delays due to a launchpad issue and then again because of bad weather.

Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, who is funding the mission, stated on his X network page that he is prepared to wait for the right conditions to ensure safety. “Sometimes the most challenging journeys demand the greatest patience, and we are prepared to wait for the right moment,” Isaacman emphasized.

The FAA stated that the Falcon 9 booster rocket could return to flight once it confirmed that no aspect of the system, process, or procedure related to the anomaly poses a risk to public safety.