posted 09-29-2024 10:41 AM               

After Saturday's [Sept. 28] successful launch of Crew-9, Falcon 9's second stage was disposed in the ocean as planned, but experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn. As a result, the second stage safely landed in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area.

We will resume launching after we better understand root cause.

posted 09-30-2024 06:59 PM               

The FAA is aware an anomaly occurred during the SpaceX NASA Crew-9 mission that launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on September 28. The incident involved the Falcon 9 second stage landing outside of the designated hazard area. No public injuries or public property damage have been reported. The FAA is requiring an investigation.

SpaceX informed NASA it observed an unexpected issue during the deorbit burn of the Falcon 9 second stage used for the flight, which resulted in a landing of the booster in the ocean but outside the target area.

NASA is following along with SpaceX's investigation as NASA prepares for its next upcoming missions.

posted 10-06-2024 11:29 AM               

The Space Falcon 9 vehicle is authorized to return to flight only for the planned Hera mission scheduled to launch on Oct. 7 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The FAA has determined that the absence of a second stage reentry for this mission adequately mitigates the primary risk to the public in the event of a reoccurrence of the mishap experienced with the Crew-9 mission.

posted 10-11-2024 07:02 PM               

The FAA is responsible for and committed to protecting the public during commercial space transportation launch and reentry operations.

The FAA notified SpaceX on Oct. 11 that the Falcon 9 vehicle is authorized to return to regular flight operations. The FAA reviewed and accepted the SpaceX-led investigation findings and corrective actions for the mishap that occurred with the Crew-9 mission (Sept. 28).

Also on Oct. 11, FAA closed the SpaceX-led investigations for the Falcon 9 mishaps that occurred with the Starlink 9-3 (July 11) and Starlink 8-6 (Aug. 28) missions.

posted 10-16-2024 11:46 PM               

We had an issue on that flight during the deorbit burn, during the second burn of the second stage. During the burn, the Merlin (MVac) engine continued to produce thrust for about 500 milliseconds after the shutdown was commanded on the engine. That half a second of extra thrust basically made it such that the second stage reentered the Earth's atmosphere early, outside of the established zone for landing of that second stage in the South Pacific Ocean.

On our vehicle, everything responded as was intended. We commanded a backup shutdown process that successfully shut down the MVac engine. The stage remained intact while in orbit and broke up, as expected, after the deorbit burn over the Pacific Ocean. We have no known reports of debris reaching the ocean surface or damage at this time.