FAA could keep Falcon 9 standing for weeks after first stage crash

On Wednesday, SpaceX launched a new Falcon 9 to deploy the 21 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit. The launch vehicle and mission control marked all milestones, even the touchdown, but an anomaly complicated things for new missions.

After hot-staging, the first stage maintained its landing zone trajectory and performed a landing burn. Then, it deployed its landing legs and contacted the droneship surface. Unfortunately, the booster tipped over after the touchdown and blasted off.

This was the 23rd flight for this booster and it’s by far the most reflights for any first-stage rocket. However, SpaceX said it’s evaluating the data received to come to a conclusion.

Meanwhile, the FAA has already taken note of this incident and published the following state right after the event occurred.

“The incident involved the failure of the Falcon 9 booster rocket while landing on a droneship at sea. No public injuries or public property damage have been reported. The FAA is requiring an investigation.” wrote FAA.

The status of the investigation is currently unknown but may take a few days or weeks depending on the collaboration and data retrieved from the booster at the last moment.

Such events are rare for SpaceX, which is launching numerous missions every month, more than any other space rocket company. However, the anomaly is certainly a cause of concern.

Even after the investigation concludes, SpaceX will be required to file approval for license modification for new flights with information surrounding the corrective measures in the Falcon 9 rocket.

In July, SpaceX experienced an anomaly in the second stage. It failed to complete the second burn, and the company lost Starlink satellites. This led to an FAA investigation, which took more than 2 weeks to conclude.

We can only expect that both sides will collaborate on this matter and we may see Falcon 9 flying soon.