“The FAA is aware an anomaly occurred during the SpaceX NASA Crew-9 mission that launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on September 28,” the emailed statement reads.
“The incident involved the Falcon 9 second stage landing outside of the designated hazard area.
The launch happened Saturday afternoon with a Falcon 9 making its first human spaceflight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40.
The FAA advisory also still has a Falcon 9 launch for a Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral, and that’s slated for as early as Oct. 5.
After that launch, SpaceX led an investigation and submitted a final report to the FAA, which was approved.
After Crew-9’s launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, this past weekend, the Federal Aviation Administration announced that it had grounded SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket while it conducted an investigation into why the rocket’s second stage missed its deorbit landing target zone.
Though the FAA did not confirm whether SpaceX had grounded the rocket until late Monday, the company had announced on social media late Saturday that it was stopping launches.
An anomaly occurred during the SpaceX NASA Crew-9 mission, which launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on September 28, according to an email statement from the FAA. “The event concerned the second stage of the Falcon 9 landing outside of the assigned danger zone. There have been no reports of injuries or property damage to the general public. An inquiry is required by the FAA. “. .
The second Falcon 9 grounding this year was due to a problem with the rocket’s second stage, making it the third time overall.
The second stage “was disposed in the ocean as planned, but experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn,” according to a social media post by SpaceX. Because of this, the second stage made a safe landing in the ocean outside of the intended landing zone. After we have a better understanding of the underlying cause, we will resume launching. “.
The launch happened Saturday afternoon with a Falcon 9 making its first human spaceflight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40. It successfully launched the Crew Dragon Freedom and its two occupants on a course to rendezvous with the International Space Station, where it touched down on Sunday afternoon.
The first-stage booster also touched down safely at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1, but the second stage—which is typically lost after coming to rest in the Atlantic—did not make it to the intended landing destination.
SpaceX had scheduled three launches from the Space Coast in the next two weeks, but one from California was canceled due to grounding on Sunday.
A Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California was intended to carry out the OneWeb Launch 20 mission for EutelsatGroup. Though not until October, the Federal Aviation Administration still has that launch on its operations plan advisory. 9.
Additionally, the FAA advisory still lists a Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral for a Starlink mission, with a possible October launch date. 5.
There are two upcoming Space Coast launches with urgent payloads. One is the European Space Agency’s Hera mission, which could launch as early as October. 7 from Cape Canaveral on a Falcon 9, and the second is NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which is based at Kennedy Space Center and will launch the massive probe to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa as early as October. 10. .
However, the launch windows for the Hera and Europa Clipper missions both stretch further into October.
August saw the FAA’s final Falcon 9 grounding when a booster failed to make a safe landing downrange on a SpaceX droneship following a Starlink launch.
Following that incident, the FAA released a statement stating, “The FAA investigates commercial space incidents to determine the root cause and identify corrective actions so they won’t happen again.”.
Following that launch, SpaceX conducted an investigation and, with FAA approval, submitted a final report. The unsuccessful booster landing occurred on August, so that turnaround was swift. August 28, the report was filed and turned in along with a request to resume flying. with consent on August 29. 30.
Investigations took longer for the first grounding of the year, which occurred in July.
When the second stage’s engine in that July 11 launch from California appeared to be freezing over in orbit, the FAA ordered a 15-day grounding of Falcon 9. SpaceX was unable to place its payloads in the proper orbit as a consequence.
Miami Sentinel, 2024. Published by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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