FAA Approves Falcon 9 Return to Flight

The FAA approved the return to flight of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket late this afternoon. Space X suspended all Falcon 9 launches after a second stage anomaly on September 28 following the otherwise successful launch of Crew-9 to the International Space Station. The FAA allowed SpaceX to launch ESA’s Hera mission on Monday, but other flights have had to wait until now.

The FAA regulates commercial space launches and reentries with a primary focus on public safety.

On September 28, SpaceX successfully launched NASA’s Crew-9 mission to the ISS, but the Falcon 9 second stage malfunctioned afterwards. It reentered into the ocean as planned, but outside the designated area.

After today’s 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…

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 29, 2024

SpaceX itself suspended flights and the FAA required an investigation.

The FAA allowed SpaceX to launch ESA’s Hera planetary defense mission on October 7, but stressed the approval was only for that launch. Hera had a limited launch window and the imminent arrival of Hurricane Milton was a further impetus to get it on its way. The FAA said SpaceX submitted its report on the Crew-9 second stage anomaly on October 4 and the FAA approved Hera’s launch the same day.

Today it approved the resumption of other Falcon 9 launches. Falcon 9 sends more satellites and spacecraft into orbit and beyond than any other rocket in the world and recovers and reuses almost all Falcon 9 first stages. In 2024 so far they’ve had 93 successful Falcon 9 launches, plus one Falcon Heavy, and two test flights of the new Starship.

The company has a remarkable success record, but there have been three failures in the past three months.

A Falcon 9 failed on July 11 when launching 20 of SpaceX’s own Starlink broadband Internet satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA.  SpaceX quickly diagnosed and remedied the problem and resumed flights just two weeks later after obtaining FAA approval.

Then on August 28 a first stage fell into the sea after a failed landing attempt on SpaceX’s autonomous drone ship Shortfall of Gravitas. That also required an investigation, but the FAA agreed they could resume flights just two days later while it was underway.

The second stage anomaly on September 28 was the third. Today, the FAA approved the resumption of regular Falcon 9 operations and closed their investigations into all three.

SpaceX is still awaiting FAA approval for its next Starship test flight, IFT-5. The company is ready to launch on Sunday, October 13, and is optimistic it will get the go-ahead in time.

Starship stacked ahead of its fifth flight test. We expect regulatory approval in time to fly on October 13 pic.twitter.com/HCN4dcm1hZ

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 11, 2024