FAA grounds SpaceX rockets for third time after mysterious anomaly

“The FAA demands an investigation.”

Off target

The US Federal Aviation Administration has grounded all of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets for the third time in just three months.

An upper stage encountered a mysterious problem after dropping off two astronauts at the International Space Station this weekend as part of its Crew-9 mission.

According to a statement released by SpaceX, the rocket “experienced a non-nominal deorbit,” causing it to crash into the Pacific Ocean just east of New Zealand, which was “outside the target area.” approved by the FAA.

Even before the FAA announced that it had launched its own investigation, SpaceX had already made the decision to halt all future launches.

“We will resume the launch once we have a better understanding of the root cause,” the Elon Musk-led company wrote in its statement.

Falcon’s woe

This is the third time since July that the FAA has grounded all Falcon 9 launches.

“The FAA is aware that an anomaly occurred during the SpaceX NASA Crew-9 mission launched from the Cape Canaveral space station in Florida on September 28,” the regulator said in a statement.

“The incident involved the Falcon 9 second stage landing outside the designated danger zone,” the statement said. “No public injuries or damage to public property have been reported. The FAA is demanding an investigation.”

In July, a Falcon 9 rocket exploded after launching a batch of Starlink internet satellites, leading the FAA to ground the rockets for several weeks.

Then, in August, the regulator grounded them again after a Falcon 9 first stage booster, which unlike the upper stage is reusable, caught fire and overturned while trying to land on a floating barge.

It’s unclear how long the FAA’s latest investigation will last or whether the space company will need to take any corrective action.

The next Falcon 9 launch is tentatively scheduled in just nine days to launch NASA’s massive Europa Clipper probe.

But given the current animosities between the two — just last week, Musk called for the FAA chief to resign over an ongoing dispute — the latest incident will likely test the relationship even more.

Read more about the incident: SpaceX mission hits mysterious problem after dropping off astronauts