Falcon 9 Temporarily Grounded Following Crew-9 Launch Issues
SpaceX has put a pause on its Falcon 9 rocket operations after encountering a complication during the Crew-9 mission for NASA. The Crew-9 mission successfully launched on September 28 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov in the Crew Dragon capsule named “Freedom.”
Successful Launch, Unplanned Issues
Initial stages of the mission appeared to progress smoothly. The first stage of the Falcon 9 completed its landing successfully post-launch, and the rocket’s upper stage effectively deployed the Freedom capsule into its intended orbit. The capsule is projected to rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) on the afternoon of September 29 as scheduled.
However, following the successful deployment, SpaceX announced on the morning of September 29 that the Falcon 9’s upper stage experienced a complication during its deorbit burn, resulting in a landing in the ocean but beyond the designated landing zone.
SpaceX’s Official Statement
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), SpaceX shared, “After today’s successful launch of Crew-9, Falcon 9’s second stage was disposed in the ocean as planned, but experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn. As a result, the second stage safely landed in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area. We will resume launching after we better understand the root cause.”
Impact on Upcoming Missions
Due to this unexpected issue, a planned Falcon 9 mission scheduled for the night of September 29, which aimed to launch 20 broadband satellites for Eutelsat OneWeb from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, has been postponed.
Recent Falcon 9 Complications
This incident marks the second upper-stage issue affecting Falcon 9 in less than three months. On July 11, the rocket experienced a liquid oxygen leak during the launch of 20 Starlink satellites, resulting in the loss of the spacecraft as they were deployed at an incorrect altitude. SpaceX successfully traced this anomaly to a faulty pressure sensor line.
After a brief hiatus, the Falcon 9 returned to flight on July 27 with a successful mission. However, further complications arose on August 28, when the rocket’s first stage encountered challenges landing during an otherwise successful launch.
The Crew-9 Mission Timeline
The Crew-9 mission sees Hague and Gorbunov set to spend approximately five months aboard the ISS. They are expected to return to Earth in February, alongside NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who arrived at the ISS in June aboard Boeing’s Starliner capsule.
Starliner recently returned to Earth after facing its own set of thruster problems during its orbit, leading NASA to reassess the return of crew members. Plans for Crew-9 were modified to ensure the safe return of Wilmore and Williams, which resulted in some changes to the crew logistics for the mission.
