Home » Home » SpaceX drone ship off Florida coast tips over shortly after booster engine landing

VIDEO ABOVE: SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket carrying Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday.

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – SpaceX announced Wednesday that the Falcon 9’s first booster stage tipped over after a successful ascent following landing on the drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas.”

Launch teams assess flight data and the status of the launch vehicle.

This was the 23rd launch of the booster.

“A Shortfall of Gravitas” is an autonomous spaceport drone ship based on the east coast of the USA for offshore landings of Falcon boosters.

The Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS) operates from the Port of Canaveral in Florida.

The drone ship is based on the Marmac 302 barge. A Shortfall of Gravitas is named after a spaceship titled “Experiencing A Significant Gravitas Shortfall” from the novel “Look to Windward” from the Culture series by author Iain M. Banks.

A Gravitas deficit was first announced by Elon Musk in 2018. Another update suggested that the drone ship would enter service in 2019, but no further news followed. Musk mentioned the drone ship again in October 2020.

Elon Musk officially unveiled the drone ship on July 9, 2021, tweeting a short clip of ASOG running autonomously during sea trials. A Shortfall of Gravitas arrived at its homeport in Florida on July 15, 2021.