A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is prepared for launch of Polaris Dawn, a private human spaceflight mission, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Aug. 26.Joe Skipper/Reuters
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday said SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket has been grounded after failing an attempt to land back on Earth during a routine Starlink mission, forcing the company’s second grounding this year.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 successfully launched a batch of Starlink internet satellites into orbit early Wednesday morning. The rocket’s reusable first stage booster returned to Earth and attempted to land on a sea-faring barge as usual, but toppled into the ocean after a fiery touchdown, a SpaceX live stream showed.
“The incident involved the failure of the Falcon 9 booster rocket while landing on a droneship at sea. No public injuries or public property damage have been reported. The FAA is requiring an investigation,” an FAA spokesman said.
Groundings of Falcon 9, a rocket that much of the Western world relies on to put satellites and humans in space, are rare. The rocket was last grounded in July for the first time since 2016, following a second-stage failure in space that doomed a batch of Starlink satellites.
The FAA regulates private rockets and launch site safety to the extent they impact the safety of the uninvolved public. The agency on Wednesday required SpaceX to open an investigation that the FAA will oversee.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Aug. 28 said SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket has been grounded after failing an attempt to land back on Earth during a routine Starlink mission, forcing the company's second grounding this year.
Reuters