Space travel US aviation authority halts rocket launches after SpaceX explosion

Following the fire of a SpaceX rocket stage, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has suspended all launches of the affected Falcon 9 rocket for the time being. Several upcoming space missions are also potentially affected.

Among others, "Polaris Dawn". In this project, four astronauts are to travel up to 1,400 kilometers away from Earth for several days - including a spacewalk.

On Wednesday, the tried-and-tested "Falcon 9" from the private space company SpaceX launched a series of satellites into space for the Starlink internet program. 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 check the landing data of the booster from the previous launch. A new scheduled launch date will be announced as soon as it is available," SpaceX announced.

Impact on the Polaris Dawn mission?

The FAA is now awaiting the results and a report from SpaceX and must approve proposed corrective actions. Only then will it be possible to resume operations of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

According to US media, a temporary flight ban could also have an impact on the "Polaris Dawn" mission, which is also to use a "Falcon 9". However, it is possible that the FAA will release the rocket again soon and that there will be no major delays. The commercial mission with the wealthy entrepreneur Jared Isaacman and three other people on board should have already been launched - however, the most recent date on Wednesday morning was canceled due to weather conditions.

Back in July, the FAA suspended all Falcon 9 launches for two weeks due to problems with the ignition of the second stage. The launch vehicle has been a great success for SpaceX for more than ten years. It has reusable rocket stages, which drastically reduces costs, and takes people and payload into space.

SDA