On July 26, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States granted permission for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket to be launched again after being suspended due to a rare incident during a launch two weeks prior.
The Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX carries South Korea’s first military reconnaissance satellite, launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA, on December 1, 2023 – (Photo: YONHAP).
Falcon 9, the most frequently used rocket in the world for placing satellites and astronauts into orbit, encountered an unusual incident during its launch on July 11. The rocket disintegrated in mid-air, damaging the entire Starlink satellite it was carrying.
This was the first incident of this nature in over seven years for a rocket trusted by the global space industry. Following the event, Falcon 9’s operations were suspended.
After investigating the incident, the FAA concluded that “there are no widespread safety issues related to this incident” and that the Falcon 9 rocket “can be launched again while the overall investigation remains open.”
For its part, SpaceX, led by billionaire Elon Musk, reported that a liquid oxygen leak caused one of the engine components to be over-cooled, damaging the engine hardware. SpaceX indicated it was ready to return the rocket to orbit as early as July 27.
The last time a Falcon 9 rocket encountered a serious issue was in September 2016 when the rocket exploded on the launch pad.
Previously, in June 2015, the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket disintegrated just two minutes after takeoff, resulting in the loss of critical equipment destined for the International Space Station (ISS).
Falcon 9 is the only rocket in the U.S. capable of transporting crews from NASA to the ISS. NASA plans to send its next crew to the ISS in August using SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, which employs this rocket.
