WASHINGTON — SpaceX resumed launches of its Falcon 9 rocket early Aug. 31 after the Federal Aviation Administration ended a brief grounding of the vehicle.
One Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 3:43 a.m. Eastern, placing 21 Starlink satellites into orbit. It was followed at 4:48 a.m. Eastern by another Falcon 9 lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base’s Space Launch Complex 4E, also delivering 21 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. The 65 minutes between launches is the shortest interval yet between Falcon 9 launches.
The launches were the first by SpaceX since the Aug. 28 launch of a Falcon 9 where the booster was lost during landing on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean. While the rocket successfully placed its payload of Starlink satellites into orbit, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a halt in Falcon 9 launches later that day to investigate any public safety implications of the failed landing.
The FAA announced late Aug. 30 that it would allow launches to resume while the investigation continues.
“The SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle may return to flight operations while the overall investigation of the anomaly during the Starlink Group 8-6 mission remains open, provided all other license requirements are met,” the agency said in a brief statement. “SpaceX made the return to flight request on Aug. 29 and the FAA gave approval on Aug. 30.”
Neither SpaceX nor the FAA have disclosed additional details about what happened on the failed landing. Jon Edwards, vice president of Falcon launch vehicles at SpaceX, noted on social media Aug. 28 that the incident “was purely a recovery issue and posed no threat to primary mission or public safety.”
The FAA can allow launches to proceed even if a failure investigation is ongoing if the agency makes what it calls a “public safety determination” that what caused the incident does not pose a risk to the safety of the…
Read the full article here
