Not the Best Day for SpaceX
Not the Best Day for SpaceX
Weather Delays Polaris Dawn Launch, Booster Lost on Starlink Launch
While it wasn't a terrible day, the news wasn't particularly great for SpaceX on Tuesday.
"After a successful ascent, Falcon 9's first stage booster tipped over following touchdown on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship.”
SpaceX on X
Due to unfavorable weather forecasted in Dragon’s splashdown areas off the coast of Florida, SpaceX stood down from Falcon 9's launch opportunities of Polaris Dawn on Wednesday, August 28 and Thursday, August 29. SpaceX says its teams will continue to monitor weather for favorable launch and return conditions.
The Dragon spacecraft supporting this mission previously flew Crew-1 to and from the International Space Station, and Inspiration4, the first all-civilian mission to orbit. This will be the fourth flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-8 and two Starlink missions. Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
At least that's the plan. But after scrubbing the Polaris Dawn launch, SpaceX attempted to launch another batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral. While the launch was successful and the satellites deployed nominally, the booster suffered a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" on its attempted droneship landing.
"After a successful ascent, Falcon 9's first stage booster tipped over following touchdown on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship. Teams are assessing the booster's flight data and status. This was the booster's 23rd launch," the company posted on X.
According to the company's social media posts, the second stage reached a nominal orbit and all satellites deployed. "Payload deploy of 21 @Starlink satellites, including 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities, confirmed," the post said.
However, SpaceX stood down from a second planned Starlink launch of the day, this one from California, while it evaluated the booster anomaly on the Florida launch. The company will release its new launch date once it is confirmed.