New York.- SpaceX launches have been halted, for the moment, after a booster rocket caught fire during landing on Wednesday.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has suspended launches of the company’s Falcon 9 rockets and ordered an investigation following the pre-dawn crash off the coast of Florida. No injuries or property damage were reported.
The impact this will have on SpaceX’s next manned flights, one private and one for NASA, is still unknown. A billionaire’s charter flight was delayed a few hours earlier due to poor weather forecasts.
The rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and sent all 21 Starlink internet satellites into orbit. But the booster rocket disintegrated in a fireball moments after landing on an ocean platform, the first such accident in years. It was the 23rd time the rocket had been launched, a recycling record for SpaceX.
The FAA said it must approve the results of the SpaceX investigation into the accident and any corrective measures that will be taken before the company can resume Falcon 9 launches. A launch from California carrying additional Starlink satellites was immediately suspended after the accident.
SpaceX Vice President Jon Edwards said the company is working “as quickly as possible” to understand what went wrong.
“Losing a rocket is always sad. Each one has a unique history and character. Fortunately, this does not happen very often,” Edwards wrote on X.
In addition to the private spaceflight expected to take off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, SpaceX plans to launch a pair of astronauts for NASA late next month. Two seats will be reserved for the two astronauts who blasted off in June aboard Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, which NASA has deemed unsafe for return.
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