Its flawless run has ended.
Hot Streak
Say what you will about SpaceX, but there's no denying that its Falcon 9 rocket is one of the most — if not the most — reliable and advanced launch systems in the world. But, alas: even this impeccable performer's years-long flawless record has come to an end.
On Wednesday morning, after making its way back from a successfully completed mission to deliver 21 Starlink satellites to orbit, a Falcon 9 rocket booster crashed while trying to land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship — essentially a landing pad in the form of a barge — in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Ars Technica reports.
By crash, we don't mean like what its ponderously larger cousin, Starship, has often tended to do, which is explode. Instead, the Falcon 9 booster unceremoniously tipped over moments after touching down, according to SpaceX, as a fireball of flames continued to erupt from its engines.
The fiery end of the booster also marks the end of Falcon 9's absurdly impressive streak of 267 successful booster landings in a row — or the first time in over three years that the booster hasn't completed a landing.
Scrub Life
This booster in particular, B1062, was on its record-setting 23rd launch.
Ars speculates that the botched landing could have been caused by an engine burn timing issue. Video of the landing also appears to show one of its landing legs collapsing. But for now, the cause remains uncertain.
While the Falcon 9 rocket's second stage booster didn't run into any issues while delivering the Starlink satellites, the failure of the first stage has given pause at the company. SpaceX said that its second Starlink launch, originally scheduled for early Wednesday morning, would be delayed to review data from the previous launch, it announced in a tweet — and that's probably for the best.
Falcon 9 B1062 completes 23 missions but unfortunately topples over on ASOG. Before this, SpaceX had 267 successful Falcon booster landings in a row.
Please note that they always expected to lose some boosters on landing; it was just crazy that they had such a run of successes. https://t.co/q6pRXA3ktf pic.twitter.com/yQySUlamWU
— Chris Bergin - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) August 28, 2024
Delays Galore
Before Wednesday's launch — and the delay that followed — SpaceX had also scrubbed the highly-anticipated launch of the Polaris Dawn mission, which would send a team of civilian astronauts through the Van Allen radiation belts, setting the stage for the first private spacewalk.
Of note is that the mission was also slated to use a Falcon 9 rocket, though the delay was attributed to a poor weather forecast and not to any issues with the launch system itself.
With Wednesday's flub, however, there could be even more delays in store for the Polaris mission as SpaceX investigates the cause of the crash.
As Ars notes, it's worth noting that booster landings are considered secondary objectives, so the success of a mission doesn't hinge on whether one is completed or not. That being said, losing a reusable rocket will be costly, and takes some shine off Falcon 9's impressive track record.
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