FAA requiring SpaceX investigation into second stage anomaly

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Monday afternoon the FAA issued an email statement saying, “The FAA is aware an anomaly occurred during the SpaceX NASA Crew-9 mission that launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on September 28.

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The incident involved the Falcon 9 second stage landing outside of the designated hazard area. No public injuries or public property damage have been reported. The FAA is requiring an investigation.”

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission arrived safely at the International Space Station on Sunday,  with two empty seats reserved for NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who watched their Boeing Starliner spacecraft depart without them earlier this month.

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But the second stage of the Falcon 9 that launched NASA astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the ISS experienced an issue after it detached from the dragon capsule.

The rocket landed in the ocean, but outside of its targeted area.

Before the FAA announcement, SpaceX stated that it wouldn’t resume launches until understands the root cause for the issue.

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Dr. Ken Kremer with Space UpClose told us,”NASA’s Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter and the moon Europa that might harbor life is going to launch October 10th on a falcon heavy.

And it’s the same upper stage. And there’s an asteroid mission launching on October 7th for the European Space Agency.

Again, the same upper stage. So, Space X on their own grounded this exactly as they should do.

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