Well, that was quick.
SpaceX has announced that it will be able to resume flying its flagship Falcon 9 rocket this evening (August 30). The news comes just two days after an FAA-supervised investigation began after the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket crashed while attempting to land following a successful launch of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband satellites.
The investigation is still ongoing, but NASA has still not grounded the Falcon 9.
“While the overall investigation into the anomaly during the Starlink Group 8-6 mission continues, the SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle may be able to return to flight operations provided all other licensing requirements are met,” FAA officials said in an emailed statement today. “SpaceX requested a return to flight on Aug. 29, and the FAA approved it on Aug. 30.”
Wednesday’s (August 28) Starlink launch was a record-breaker: it was the 23rd launch of the Falcon 9 first stage, one more than any other SpaceX booster.
The rocket struck its intended landing spot, the deck of a SpaceX drone parked in the Atlantic Ocean, but failed to stay upright. SpaceX’s livestream of the launch showed flames erupting from the base of the booster shortly after it landed, before it tumbled over.
The fall destroyed the rocket. SpaceX observers recently captured images of the drone ship. Booster debris scattered across the deck.
Related: Starlink satellite train: how to see and track it in the night sky
The investigation into the failed landing marks the second time in the past month and a half that the FAA has investigated the Falcon 9 rocket, which resumed flying on July 26 after a two-week grounding following an upper stage failure that led to the loss of 23 Starlink satellites.
The clearance to fly will undoubtedly come as a relief to the crew of Polaris Dawn, the four-person orbital mission that is set to conduct the first-ever private spacewalk. Prior to Wednesday’s accident, Polaris Dawn was scheduled to launch earlier this week, but forecasts of bad weather caused the launch to be postponed. SpaceX has not yet announced a new launch date for the historic five-day mission.
