SpaceX to resume Falcon 9 rocket launches while FAA completes investigation

SpaceX is aiming for a rapid return to Falcon 9 launches after a rare failure of its main rocket during a satellite launch last week.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) received a request from SpaceX on Monday (July 15) to continue the launch Falcon 9 Flights during the mandatory accident investigation after the ill-fated Starlink 9-3 mission in which a liquid oxygen leak occurred in the rocket’s upper stage. SpaceX has asked the FAA to issue a public safety determination that would allow the company to resume launches if the administration determines that the anomaly “did not affect safety-critical systems or otherwise endanger public safety.” SpaceflightNow reported reported on Tuesday (July 16). The FAA also provided the statement to Space.com upon request.

“The FAA has a responsibility and obligation to protect the public during the launch and reentry of commercial space transportation,” the agency wrote in the emailed statement. “The FAA is reviewing (SpaceX’s) request and will be guided by data and safety at every step of the process.”

If approved, SpaceX could potentially stick to its schedule and conduct two crewed space flights in the coming weeks. Falcon 9 uses different variants of the rocket for crewed and uncrewed launches. The first astronaut launch, scheduled for July 31, is the privately funded Polaris Dawn Mission (funded by American billionaire Jared Isaacman), which was the first commercial Spacewalk in high Earth orbit. The second, expected in mid-August, is the launch of Crew-9 to International Space Station on behalf of NASA.

NASA is pursuing an investigation into SpaceX’s failed Falcon 9 launch and its potential impact on the agency’s future astronaut missions, the space agency said in a July 12 statement.

“Crew safety and mission assurance are NASA’s highest priorities,” NASA officials wrote in the statement. “SpaceX has disclosed information and is engaging NASA in the company’s ongoing anomaly investigation to understand the issue and the path forward. NASA will provide updates on the agency’s missions, including potential schedule impacts, if any, as more information becomes available.”

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which has launched 364 missions into space and experienced only two failures in 14 years, suffered a liquid oxygen fuel leak in the second stage during its launch on July 11.

“Following a planned re-ignition of the upper stage engine to raise the perigee – or the lowest point in the orbit – the (single) Merlin vacuum engine (in the second stage) experienced an anomaly and was unable to complete its second burn,” SpaceX wrote in a Update from July 12.

“Although the stage survived and still has the Satellitesit failed to circularize its orbit, but it passivated as it normally does at the end of each mission,” SpaceX added. “This left the satellites in an eccentric orbit with a very low perigee of 135 km (84 miles), less than half the expected perigee altitude.”

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rests on the deck of a ship at sea shortly after launching 20 Starlink satellites into orbit from California on July 11, 2024.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rests on the deck of a ship at sea shortly after launching 20 Starlink satellites into orbit from California on July 11, 2024. (Image credit: SpaceX)

In its July 16 statement, the FAA said the public safety determination request would be evaluated based on, among other things, “safety-critical systems, the nature and consequences of the anomaly, the adequacy of existing flight safety analyses, the performance of the safety organization, and environmental factors.”

“If the FAA agrees that no public safety issues exist,” the statement continued, “the operator may resume flight operations while the investigation is ongoing, provided all other licensing requirements are met.”

The FAA has not provided a timeline for evaluating the application, which is standard practice in aerospace safety investigations due to the complexity of spaceflight. Missions with humans on board, such as Polaris Dawn and NASA’s Crew-9, would likely face additional scrutiny.

The vast majority of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets are designed for Starlink satellitesalso by SpaceX to advance its broadband satellite internet business. But the rocket will also be used for critical national security missions as well as a selection of high-profile government satellite launches, such as those used for Earth observation.

Falcon 9 also launches the most of all rockets today. So far in 2024 it has sent 69 launches into space (including one failure). China, the second largest launch company in the world after SpaceX, has 30 successful launches this year so far.

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