SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has been authorized to resume space missions following a rare mid-flight failure, the Federal Aviation Administration announced.
The FAA confirmed that the anomaly during the July 11 launch did not present any public safety risks, allowing the rocket to return to operations while the full investigation continues.
SpaceX has indicated that it is prepared to relaunch the Falcon 9 as early as Saturday, July 27. The Falcon 9, which holds the title of the world’s most frequently used rocket, was temporarily grounded after a mid-flight disintegration resulted in the loss of its payload of Starlink satellites—a significant setback in over seven years of successful operations.
In its statement, SpaceX attributed the failure to a liquid oxygen leak that caused excessive cooling of an engine component. This issue was traced to a crack in a pressure sensor’s sense line. SpaceX plans to address the problem by removing the faulty sense line and sensor from future launches.
The Falcon 9 is the only U.S. rocket currently capable of transporting NASA crews to the International Space Station. NASA is planning its next crewed mission for August, which will use SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule launched atop the Falcon 9.
