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It looks like the Falcon 9 rocket won’t be flying again anytime soon. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has requested an investigation into SpaceX’s launch of its Crew-9 mission as a result of the rocket’s upper stage experiencing an anomaly on its way back for an ocean splashdown.
SpaceX grounded its rocket to look into the root cause of the anomaly, which caused Falcon 9 to miss its targeted landing area. Now, the FAA has made it clear that an investigation is required before the rocket can resume its launches, according to a recent statement. The company’s workhorse is a favorite in the industry, and it has a packed schedule ahead of it, but it’s unclear when it will be able to fly again.
The Falcon 9 rocket launched the Crew-9 mission on Saturday, September 28, transporting NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the International Space Station aboard the Dragon crew capsule. On its way down to land in the ocean, the rocket’s upper stage experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn that caused it to miss its targeted splashdown zone.
As a result, the company said it would pause the launches of Falcon 9 until it can identify the root cause behind the anomaly. The SpaceX investigation will be overseen by the FAA. “No public injuries or public property damage have been reported,” the FAA wrote in its statement. “The FAA is requiring an investigation.” With the rocket grounded indefinitely, it’s not clear whether it will be able to launch the European Space Agency’s Hera mission on October 7.
This is the third time the normally reliable Falcon 9 rocket has been grounded in less than three months. In July, the rocket was unable to deliver its payload of satellites to orbit due to an upper stage malfunction. The incident grounded the rocket until an investigation into the failed flight concluded around two weeks later, pinpointing an oxygen leak as the reason behind the engine malfunction. A little over a month later, the rocket’s booster returned to Earth to perform a landing on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean after delivering 21 Starlink satellites to orbit when it toppled over once it reached the droneship and broke apart, igniting a large fire. The incident prompted the FAA to ground the rocket but Falcon 9 was back to launching Starlink satellites three days later.
It’s rather unusual for Falcon 9 to experience this many anomalies over a short period of time. Since its debut in 2010, the 135-foot-high (41 meters) rocket has performed more than 350 missions. As one of the hardest working rockets in the industry, government agencies and private companies alike rely on Falcon 9 to deliver their payloads to space. The rocket being grounded puts a strain on the growing spaceflight industry, which is in desperate need of more vehicles that can regularly launch to orbit.
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