CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed it had grounded SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket pending an investigation into why the rocket’s second stage missed its deorbit landing target zone after this weekend’s Crew-9 launch from Cape Canaveral. SpaceX announced it was halting launches in a social media post late Saturday, but the FAA did not confirm whether or not it had grounded the rocket until late Monday, Richard Tribou writes for the Orlando Sentinel. Continue reading original article.
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
2 October 2024 - “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. No public injuries or public property damage have been reported. The FAA is requiring an investigation.”
SpaceX said in its social media post the second stage “was disposed in the ocean as planned, but experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn. As a result, the second stage safely landed in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area. We will resume launching after we better understand root cause.”
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Jamie Whitney, Senior Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
