US aviation authority allows “Falcon 9” to take off again

After a routine landing, a rocket stage on the Falcon 9 tipped over and burst into flames. The US aviation authority FAA launched an investigation – now it has given the green light for takeoffs again.

Cape Canaveral – After a launch ban of several days for the “Falcon 9” rocket of the private space company SpaceX, the US aviation authority FAA has again given the green light for the launch vehicle to operate. After a SpaceX rocket stage caught fire, the FAA had initially suspended launches of the affected “Falcon 9” rocket. The investigation into the incident will continue, the authority said.

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 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.

A longer FAA ban on the rockets would potentially have affected several upcoming space missions, including “Polaris Dawn”. This project will see four astronauts travel up to 1,400 kilometers from Earth for several days – including a spacewalk.

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