SpaceX mission hits mysterious problem after dropping off astronauts

Rare SpaceX L

SpaceX successfully delivered the Crew Dragon capsule intended to rescue stranded NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore early next year. The pair recently saw their original vehicle, Boeing’s problem-laden Starliner, return to Earth without them on board.

But shortly after dropping off NASA astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov this weekend, the upper stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket also experienced a rare accident. During its return from orbit, the rocket “underwent a non-nominal deorbit,” according to a statement posted on X-formerly Twitter by the company led by Elon Musk.

The scene was always intended to be “set” in the South Pacific Ocean. But due to the anomaly, the rocket landed just east of New Zealand, “outside the target area,” according to the company.

While it might not seem like a big deal at first glance, having a massive metal structure spin out of control as it falls back to Earth can pose very real risks.

SpaceX has voluntarily suspended any future Falcon 9 launches.

“We will resume the launch once we better understand the root cause,” the company wrote.

Ground control

This isn’t the first problem with a Falcon 9 that SpaceX has encountered in recent times. In July, the rocket leaked liquid oxygen during the launch of a Starlink internet satellite, causing it to explode.

This extremely rare event – ​​at the time, the company had launched 344 Falcon 9 rockets in a row without incident – ​​led the Federal Aviation Administration to ground all Falcon 9 rockets.

And last month, the rocket was grounded again after a first-stage booster caught fire and overturned while attempting to land on a floating barge.

We’ll have to wait for SpaceX to release more information on the latest issue. It is unclear whether the incident is in any way related to previous incidents.

We still don’t know how long Falcon 9 will be grounded this time. Following the July incident, the company suspended launches for just 15 days.

Fortunately, given that it was always designed to fall into the ocean, it doesn’t appear that anyone was ever in danger of being harmed.

The FAA has yet to comment on the latest “off-nominal deorbit burn,” but it’s encouraging that the company is willing to hold itself accountable in the meantime.

Learn more about SpaceX: NASA almost funded its entire crew for Boeing’s disastrous Starliner, leaving SpaceX out in the cold