UPDATE: The FAA has cleared SpaceX to resume Falcon 9 launches while the mishap investigation continues.
For the second time this year, SpaceX‘s workhorse rocket, and the most launched rocket in the world, is grounded after the booster failed to successfully land on its drone ship out in the ocean. This triggered a mishap investigation by the FAA, which means SpaceX won’t be able to launch again until it can show it won’t cause any risk to public safety.
After more than three and a half years, SpaceX suffered a failure during landing with one of its Falcon 9 boosters. During this week’s Starlink launch, the booster, B1062, successfully launched and deployed its satellites into orbit. However, during touchdown on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, the booster caught fire and toppled over.
No obvious signs of what caused the fire were seen during SpaceX’s livestream, and the feed was cut before the booster was seen to have finished falling over.
While the failure occurred during landing, many miles away from any humans, the FAA has still issued the need for an investigation and temporarily grounded the Falcon 9 until it has determined that no safety risk is posed to the public.
“A return to flight of the Falcon 9 booster rocket is based on the FAA determining that any system, process, or procedure related to the anomaly does not affect public safety,” the FAA told Space Explored in a statement. However, SpaceX could likely begin launching before finishing the investigation if it can get the FAA to determine that safety is not in danger because of the nature of the issue.
The failure of the landing and grounding has once again pushed back various other missions, or could if the FAA doesn’t clear them to continue launching soon. Following the mission, SpaceX was planning to attempt another Starlink launch from the West Coast but delayed it, stating it was going to review landing data.
More notably, Jared Issacman’s Polaris Dawn mission is officially waiting for good recovery weather before it can launch, but this will likely affect it if the grounding goes on into next week.
“Unlike an ISS mission, we don’t have the option to delay long on orbit, so we must ensure the forecast is as favorable as possible before we launch,” Isaacman shared on X. “1062 had an incredible career, flying many notable missions, including Inspiration4 and AX-1. It’s remarkable to think about the life this amazing rocket led from the day she first rolled off the assembly line.”
This was B1062’s 23rd flight and led SpaceX’s Falcon 9 fleet in re-flights before its demise.
B1062 in memorial
B1062 was an important booster for SpaceX, as it both launched some of its most historic missions and showed just how capable reflown boosters can be.
The booster first flew on November 5, 2020, for the US Space Force on GPS III SV-4, back when the Department of Defense didn’t allow reflown boosters for its missions. In total, B1062 flew two GPS missions, two crewed flights, three commercial customers, and a whopping 16 Starlink flights (~574 Starlink satellites).
B1062 flights
- GPS III SV04 – November, 5 2020
- GPS III SV05 – June 17, 2021
- Inspiration4 – September 16, 2021
- Starlink Group 4-5 – January 6, 2022
- Axiom-1 – April 8, 2022
- Starlink Group 4-16 – April 29, 2022
- Nilesat-301 – June 8, 2022
- Starlink Group 4-25 – July 24, 2022
- Starlink Group 4-27 – August 19, 2022
- Starlink Group 4-36 – October 20, 2022
- Starlink Group 5-1 – December 28, 2022
- Starlink Group 5-4 – February 12, 2023
- One Web #17 – March 9, 2023
- ArabSat 7B – May 27, 2023
- Starlink Group 6-23 – October 18, 2023
- Starlink Group 6-30 – November 28, 2023
- Starlink Group 6-38 – January 29, 2024
- Starlink Group 6-44 – March 16, 2024
- Starlink Group 6-49 – April 13, 2024
- Starlink Group 6-59 – May 18, 2024
- Starlink Group 10-3 – June 27, 2024
- Starlink Group 8-6 – August 28, 2024
B1061 will be the next booster to tie B1062’s record as it currently sits at 22 total flights. That booster is based out of Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, and just recently launched a mission for the Norwegian Space Agency on August 12.
SpaceX has yet to share details on what could have caused the failure. ASOG returned to port showing relatively low damage after the failure. However, most of the booster was left at sea.
SpaceX has a lot of missions to launch to meet its goal for 2024; more delays due to rocket issues may put a nail in the coffin to get them all done.
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