US regulators on Friday cleared SpaceX to restart launching its stalwart Falcon 9 rocket, as a probe continues into a rare mishap this week during a first-stage booster landing.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded the Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday after a first-stage booster tipped over and exploded while attempting to land on a droneship off the Florida coast.
The early morning launch was otherwise successful, delivering the latest batch of 21 Starlink internet satellites into orbit.
“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 FAA said in a statement Friday.
A webcast from Elon Musk’s company showed the first stage, which normally fires its thrusters to achieve a precise upright landing, tilting and blowing up as it descended onto a droneship off the Florida coast.
Although landing the booster is a secondary objective, and no lives or public property were at risk, the reusability of the entire rocket system is crucial to SpaceX’s business model.
It broke a more than three-year streak of hundreds of successful booster landings.
Falcon 9 is the workhorse of SpaceX’s fleet, trusted by the US government and private industry to propel satellites and astronauts into orbit.
It was last grounded for around two weeks in July when its second stage engine experienced an anomaly that prevented it from deploying another batch of Starlink satellites at the correct altitude, leading them to burn up on re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere.
