SpaceX has temporarily grounded its Falcon 9 rocket following an issue with the vehicle's second stage during a recent mission. While the mission successfully delivered a Dragon capsule carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to orbit, the rocket’s second stage did not re-enter the ocean in the expected location.
In a statement, SpaceX said, “We will resume launching once we better understand the root cause.” This marks the third time in three months that Falcon 9 has experienced issues during its missions.
The Crew-9 mission, which launched on Saturday, safely delivered Hague and Gorbunov to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday evening. However, during the deorbit burn, where the second stage’s Merlin Vacuum engine is fired to ensure debris re-enters the atmosphere over a controlled area, an anomaly occurred. This deorbit burn is critical for ensuring any rocket debris falls safely into a predetermined area of the ocean.
This is not the first recent issue for Falcon 9. In July, a routine Starlink launch saw a liquid oxygen leak, leading to the loss of 20 satellites. A month later, a booster failed to land properly on a drone ship, resulting in its destruction. Despite these anomalies, SpaceX resumed launches relatively quickly, with minimal delays.
However, this latest issue could affect some high-priority missions. Two major upcoming launches include the European Space Agency’s Hera mission to study asteroids on October 7 and NASA’s Europa Clipper mission on October 10. Both have strict launch windows closing at the end of the month. Additionally, a Falcon 9 mission set to launch 20 internet satellites for Eutelsat OneWeb was delayed as a result of this latest anomaly.
As SpaceX investigates the cause of this issue, further updates on mission schedules are expected soon.
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