The U.S. Approves the Resumption of Falcon 9 Operations
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced that it has approved the return to service of SpaceX‘s Falcon 9 rocket, after reviewing and accepting the results of the company-led investigation and corrective actions regarding the incident that occurred on September 28, according to Reuters.
The FAA previously stated that SpaceX was required to investigate the cause of the second-stage failure of its Falcon 9 rocket following a NASA astronaut mission, which resulted in the launch vehicle being grounded for the third time in three months.
The failure caused the rocket to fall into an area of the Pacific Ocean outside the designated safety zone approved by the FAA.
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On Friday, the FAA announced that it had closed the investigations led by SpaceX concerning the Falcon 9 incidents that occurred during Starlink missions in July and August.
SpaceX has successfully set a record for the most reuses of a space rocket, with the Falcon 9 being launched for the ninth time in 2021, delivering its payload of 60 Starlink satellites into the required orbit before returning to its landing platform in the Atlantic Ocean.
It is worth noting that the rocket had previously participated in other missions to send Starlink satellites into orbit, as well as the “DM-1” mission.
According to “The Verge,” these satellites are part of the growing Starlink constellation that SpaceX is building to provide internet connectivity to remote areas of the Earth.
