The rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Saturday, placing 21 Starlink satellites in orbit before a separate Falcon 9 delivered another batch of 21 into low-Earth orbit (LEO) from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
It comes after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) paused blast-offs after one of the boosters failed to land correctly on the drone ship at sea. The bodged touchdown was the first mishap in 267 attempts, stretching back to February 2021.
SpaceX revolutionised launch when it pioneered reusable rockets over a decade ago.
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The innovation dramatically lowers the cost of placing satellites in orbit by preserving the most expensive part of the launch vehicle, which can often cost the same as a commercial airliner.
The Falcon 9 first stage has four landing legs made from carbon fibre and aluminium honeycomb that deploy just before landing. Automation, rather than human control, makes rapid control decisions that allow the touchdowns to be reliable.
The FAA gave no reason for lifting the ban so quickly. However, it is thought that it allowed launches to continue mid-investigation, as the failure presented no risk to the public.
SpaceX itself insisted the incident was “purely a recovery issue” that posed no threat to its mission, which otherwise deployed its satellites successfully.
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“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 licence requirements are met,” the FAA said in a statement.
“SpaceX made the return to flight request on August 29, and the FAA gave approval on August 30.”
The news comes after the FAA lifted a separate Falcon 9 ban in July following a problem with a second-stage engine that failed to reignite on schedule.
After a short investigation, SpaceX concluded the problem was caused by a liquid oxygen leak within the insulation around the upper-stage engine.
The company was able to contact 10 of the satellites planned for orbit but revealed they were in an “enormously high-drag environment” that prevented their rescue.
As a short-term fix, engineers are now removing the failed sense line and sensor on the second-stage engine to enable blast-offs to continue.
Adam Thorn
Adam is a journalist who has worked for more than 40 prestigious media brands in the UK and Australia. Since 2005, his varied career has included stints as a reporter, copy editor, feature writer and editor for publications as diverse as Fleet Street newspaper The Sunday Times, fashion bible Jones, media and marketing website Mumbrella as well as lifestyle magazines such as GQ, Woman’s Weekly, Men’s Health and Loaded. He joined Momentum Media in early 2020 and currently writes for Australian Aviation and World of Aviation.
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