After four years without incident, SpaceX engineers were confident of a routine launch this week.
But that confidence was literally shattered this morning when a Falcon 9 rocket booster dramatically exploded shortly after landing.
Booster 1062 had just broken the record for most consecutive launches without failure when it failed to land a SpaceX drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
Shocking video captured the moment the booster suddenly fell over and was surrounded by a ball of purple flames.
It is the first time since 2021 that a SpaceX booster stage has failed to land after delivering its payload into orbit.
Shocking footage captures the moment a Starlink Falcon 9 rocket booster bursts into flames during a failed landing this morning
The rocket was carrying a payload of 21 satellites for the Starlink network that were on their way to orbit before the rocket was destroyed. Pictured: Starlink satellite dishes
In a statement to X, SpaceX wrote that the Falcon 9 booster “tipped over” after landing on a drone ship
The Falcon 9 rocket launched at 3:48 a.m. EDT (8:48 a.m. BST) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The rocket carried 21 Starlink satellites, 13 of which had the new Direct to Cell functionality.
The rocket was successfully launched and split, sending the satellites into orbit.
However, as booster 1062 approached the drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas,” it appeared to suffer a catastrophic failure, ending the company’s streak of 267 successful landings.
SpaceX’s livestream captured the moment the booster stage landed on the drone ship, after which it almost immediately toppled over and burst into flames.
About eight and a half minutes after launch, the booster stage landed on the drone ship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’. However, the rocket appeared to fall over and explode
The Falcon 9 booster stage is designed to separate from its payload and then turn around in mid-air so it can use its remaining fuel to lower itself back to Earth. By landing safely, the boosters can be reused, dramatically reducing the cost of spaceflight.
In a post on X, SpaceX confirmed the destruction of the booster: “Following a successful ascent, the Falcon 9 first-stage booster tilted after landing on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas.
‘Teams are reviewing the booster’s flight data and status. This was the booster’s 23rd launch.’
In response, SpaceX postponed the launch of a second Starlink mission, which was scheduled to depart from California later that night.
In a statement about X, the company wrote: “We are aborting our second launch tonight to give the team time to review the booster landing data from the previous launch.”
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 boosters are designed to spin themselves in the air, allowing them to use their remaining fuel to slow their descent to Earth.
The rocket was launched from Pace Launch Complex 40 at Canaveral Space Force Station (pictured) in Florida at 3:48 a.m. EDT. This was the 23rd time the booster stage has been used
Using fins for aerodynamic guidance, the booster navigates back to an autonomous drone ship, where it must land safely.
This allows the booster stages to be reused multiple times, significantly reducing overall launch costs.
However, this process is technically very challenging and the booster stages often exploded during their initial development.
There have been numerous cases of Falcon 9 boosters dramatically exploding after hitting the drone ship too quickly or tipping over after landing.
The last time a rocket failed to land was in February 2021, when booster B1059 came to a fatal end aboard the drone ship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’.
SpaceX has not yet commented on the cause of today’s failed landing.
SpaceX says it will delay a second planned Starlink launch to give the crew time to review the data
SpaceX has not commented on whether this will affect the launch schedule of the Polaris Dawn mission, which launches later this week on a Falcon 9 rocket.
But even after these failures, the reusable rocket still has an exceptionally high success rate and it is unlikely that SpaceX will retire the Falcon 9.
Since 2018, when the latest Falcon 9 variant, Block 5, was introduced, the rocket has become a workhorse for the private and public space sectors.
Before its destruction today, booster 1062 was even used for the Inspiration4 mission, which carried the first all-civilian crew to orbit
A member of the original Inspiration4 crew, billionaire Jared Isaacman, will board a Falcon 9 rocket again later this week as part of the Polaris Dawn mission.
This daring project aims to launch the first-ever spacewalk by non-professional astronauts.
However, the launch was postponed this morning due to bad weather over the planned landing site off the coast of Florida.
It is not yet clear whether this failure will have any consequences for the launch schedule of Polaris Dawn.