After three mishaps for the Falcon 9 rocket earlier this year that saw a second stage malfunction in space, a second stage that failed to land on the designated location on Earth, and a first stage booster tipping over, the FAA informed SpaceX earlier today that the firm is clear to return to regular operations with its Falcon 9 rocket. While SpaceX had launched a mission for the European Space Agency (ESA) after the mishap, the mission did not see the SpaceX return either the second stage rocket or the booster to Earth, which meant that the launch was able to secure an exemption.
FAA Clears SpaceX Falcon 9 For Launch After Mishap On NASA's Crew 9
SpaceX's first mishap earlier this year took place in July when a Falcon 9 second stage was unable to successfully ignite its engine during a Starlink mission. Since sending Starlink satellites to their designated orbit required multiple engine firings, the mission was eventually a failure as all of its payload satellites were destroyed. This failure was the first for SpaceX's latest Falcon 9 Block 5 rockets, and it broke the firm's record setting streak of 325 consecutive successful launches.
The second Falcon 9 anomaly was in its first stage. This time around, after another Starlink launch, the rocket's first stage booster appeared to make a hard landing on SpaceX's drone ship while attempting a record setting 23rd landing. Consequently, it tipped over and was destroyed for SpaceX's first landing failure in more than three years and after another record setting 267 successful landings.
After the first second stage anomaly, SpaceX made a couple of changes to its rocket in order to clear it for subsequent missions. One of these came for NASA, with the agency's officials sharing during a media event that they had worked with SpaceX to analyze the anomalies in its rockets. NASA's launch for the Crew-9 mission took off in late September, and soon after the astronauts were on their way, SpaceX shared that it would ground the rocket since the second stage had landed outside its designated area.
Between then and now, SpaceX has launched just one mission. This was the Hera satellite for the European Space Agency (ESA). The spacecraft is destined for the Didymos asteroid system, which was part of NASA's first planetary defense test under the DART mission in 2022. Due to its destination, the spacecraft required more power during launch. Consequently, SpaceX was unable to recover the Falcon 9 first stage booster, and the second stage booster was not intended to return to Earth either. As a result, the FAA cleared the rocket to launch only one mission.
In its statement moments back, the FAA shared that it "notified SpaceX on Oct. 11 that the Falcon 9 vehicle is authorized to return to regular flight operations." This was after the agency "reviewed and accepted the SpaceX-led investigation findings and corrective actions for the mishap that occurred with the Crew-9 mission (Sept. 28)." It added that it had also "closed the SpaceX-led investigations for the Falcon 9 mishaps that occurred with the Starlink 9-3 (July 11) and Starlink 8-6 (Aug. 28) missions.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
