US authority FAA allows re-launch of “Falcon 9”.

Cape Canaveral. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has lifted a multi-day launch ban on the “Falcon 9” rocket of the private space company SpaceX and allowed the launch vehicle to operate again. After a stage caught fire, the regulators had initially suspended further launches of the affected rocket. The agency clarified, however, that the investigation into the incident will continue.

On Wednesday, the tried-and-tested “Falcon 9” launched a series of satellites for the Starlink internet program into space. The launch was successful – but after landing, a rocket stage tipped over on a ship in the Atlantic and burst into flames. Another Starlink launch was then postponed “to give the team time to review the booster landing data from the original launch.” “A new planned launch date will be announced as soon as it is available,” SpaceX said.

Project “Polaris Dawn” aims to set new standards

A longer FAA ban on the rockets would potentially have affected several upcoming space missions, including “Polaris Dawn”. In this project, four astronauts are to travel up to 1,400 kilometers from Earth for several days – this will also include a spacewalk. According to SpaceX, this will be the greatest distance humans have traveled from Earth since the last Apollo missions to the moon in the early 1970s. Together with entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, astronauts Kidd Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon are to fly into space in the “Dragon” spacecraft using a “Falcon 9” rocket.

The astronauts (from left to right) Anna Menon, Scott Poteet, Commander Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral

Source: John Raoux/AP/dpa

Back in July, the FAA suspended all launches of Falcon 9 rockets for two weeks because of problems with the ignition of the second propulsion stage. The launch vehicle has been a great success for SpaceX for more than ten years. It has reusable rocket stages, which has reduced costs, and it carries people and payloads into space.

Private space companies are gaining more and more ground

SpaceX was founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and is one of the most important companies under his control. In general, private space companies have become more influential than government space agencies and programs in recent years. They now often act as contractors, carrying out certain missions for public authorities.

SpaceX’s project partners also cited bad weather conditions as a reason for the recent launch delay. They have to be absolutely certain about the weather on the return because they will only be carrying a limited number of life-sustaining consumables.

RND/janp/dpa