SpaceX launches have been halted for the time being after a rocket booster caught fire during landing on Wednesday.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has suspended launches of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket and ordered an investigation following the early morning accident off the coast of Florida. No injuries or property damage have been reported.
It is still unknown what impact this will have on SpaceX’s next manned flights, one for private and one for NASA. A billionaire’s charter flight was delayed a few hours earlier because of a bad weather forecast.
The rocket took off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and delivered all 21 Starlink internet satellites into orbit. But the booster rocket disintegrated in a fireball moments after landing on a sea platform, the first such accident in years. It was the 23rd time the rocket had been launched, a recycling record for SpaceX.
The FAA said it must approve the results of SpaceX’s investigation into the crash and any corrective measures the company takes before it can resume Falcon 9 launches. Launches carrying additional Starlink satellites from California were suspended immediately after the accident.
SpaceX Vice President John Edwards said the company is working “as quickly as possible” to understand what went wrong.
“Losing a rocket is always tragic. Each has a unique history and character. Fortunately, this does not happen often,” Edwards wrote on SpaceX.
SpaceX has scheduled the launch of two people for NASA for late next month, in addition to the commercial spacecraft that is anticipated to take off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. NASA has determined that it is unsafe for the two astronauts who traveled on Boeing’s new Starliner capsule in June to return, thus two of the seats will be set aside for them.