The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket the green light to resume space missions following a rare mid-flight failure that grounded the rocket.
The FAA said on Friday that it found no public safety concerns related to the anomaly that occurred during the unsuccessful launch on July 11, allowing the rocket to return to flight operations while the comprehensive investigation proceeds.
SpaceX announced on its X (formerly Twitter) that it is prepared to relaunch the rocket as early as Saturday, July 27. Falcon 9, the most used rocket worldwide, was grounded after it malfunctioned in space, resulting in the loss of its Starlink satellite payload. This was the first failure in over seven years for a rocket that the global space industry heavily relies upon.
The FAA said on Friday that it found no public safety concerns related to the anomaly that occurred during the unsuccessful launch on July 11, allowing the rocket to return to flight operations while the comprehensive investigation proceeds.
SpaceX announced on its X (formerly Twitter) that it is prepared to relaunch the rocket as early as Saturday, July 27. Falcon 9, the most used rocket worldwide, was grounded after it malfunctioned in space, resulting in the loss of its Starlink satellite payload. This was the first failure in over seven years for a rocket that the global space industry heavily relies upon.
In a statement released on Friday, SpaceX attributed the cause of the failure to a liquid oxygen leak that led to excessive cooling of an engine component, causing damage to its hardware. “A crack in a sense line for a pressure sensor” was identified as the source of the leak. SpaceX stated that the faulty sense line and sensor on the second stage engine will be removed for upcoming launches in the near future.
Falcon 9 holds the distinction of being the sole US rocket capable of transporting Nasa crews to the International Space Station. Nasa is planning to launch its next astronaut mission in August, with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon astronaut capsule launching atop the Falcon 9 rocket.