Falcon 9 Cleared To Resume Flight By FAA | SpaceX Aiming For July 27 Launch

Despite the leak, the second stage engine continued to operate, but the excessive cooling of engine components led to a hard start and damage to the engine hardware, resulting in the loss of attitude control. However, the second stage successfully deployed the Starlink satellites and completed stage passivation.

SpaceX has taken corrective actions, including removing the failed sense line and sensor from the second stage engine, which is not critical to the flight safety system. The design change has been tested and qualified, with oversight from the FAA and involvement from the SpaceX investigation team.

Additionally, SpaceX has conducted a comprehensive review of all vehicles and ground systems, leading to proactive replacements of sense lines and clamps in select locations. The company remains committed to safety and reliability, citing its focus on these core values as essential to achieving its current launch cadence and gathering unprecedented levels of flight data.

With these corrective actions in place, SpaceX is poised to rapidly return to flight, safely and with increased reliability. The company expressed gratitude to the FAA and its customers for their ongoing support and emphasized the critical importance of its missions. SpaceX said it is ready to return to flight as soon as Saturday, July 27 with another Starlink mission.

The company, led by Elon Musk, aims to launch as many as 148 flights this year with its Falcon rocket family. SpaceX rockets have already taken to the skies dozens of times this year, not including tests of its new Starship rocket.

At the end of July, SpaceX has plans to launch a crew of four private astronauts — including Jared Isaacman — on a mission to perform the first commercial spacewalk with SpaceX’s new spacesuits. The company also has its next crewed launch for NASA coming up in August, called Crew-9, which will send four astronauts to the International Space Station.

By Azhar