SpaceX pauses Falcon 9 launches for internal and FAA investigations

SpaceX Falcon 9 launches will be paused for a period of time while the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigates an anomaly that occurred during the Crew-9 launch in late September.

Despite a successful liftoff that sent Crew Dragon to the International Space Station (ISS) in a mission that will see hundreds of experiments take place, along with somewhat of a rescue of two astronauts that made it to the spacecraft with Boeing Starliner, an anomaly took place.

SpaceX arrives to save astronauts stranded by Boeing on ISS

The Falcon 9 upper stage used during the launch suffered an issue after deploying the capsule that held the astronauts. An “off-nominal deorbit burn” resulted in the upper stage landing outside of its target disposal area. SpaceX detailed the issue:

“After today’s successful launch of Crew-9, Falcon 9’s second stage was disposed in the ocean as planned, but experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn. As a result, the second stage safely landed in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area. We will resume launching after we better understand root cause.”

SpaceX seeks permission to relaunch Falcon 9 during FAA investigation

The FAA said it was “aware of the anomaly” and said that no injuries or damage to public property had been reported, but it was requiring an investigation into what happened.

This is the third Falcon 9 issue that has occurred for SpaceX in as many months. In July, an upper stage had a liquid-oxygen leak, which resulted in the loss of 20 Starlink satellites.

In August, a first stage of a Falcon 9 had an unsuccessful landing attempt after a successful Starlink launch. SpaceX returned to flight just three days after, according to Space.com.

SpaceX seeks permission to relaunch Falcon 9 during FAA investigation

There is no estimation on how long SpaceX’s Falcon 9 will be grounded due to the issue.

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