FAA requires investigation of anomaly on SpaceX's Crew-9 astronaut launch

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"The incident involved the Falcon 9 second stage landing outside of the designated hazard area."

a black and white rocket launches into a cloudy blue sky
A Falcon 9 rocket launches SpaceX's Crew-9 astronaut mission to the International Space Station on Sept. 28, 2024. (Image credit: SpaceX)

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is requiring an investigation of the anomaly a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket experienced during the Crew-9 astronaut launch on Sept. 28.

That liftoff successfully sent a Crew Dragon capsule carrying NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov toward the International Space Station. However, the Falcon 9's upper stage suffered an issue after deploying the capsule, SpaceX revealed on Sept. 29. The issue was an "off-nominal deorbit burn," which resulted in the upper stage landing in the ocean outside of its target disposal area. (The Falcon 9's first stage is reusable, but its upper stage is not.)

SpaceX is pausing launches while it looks into the issue. The company's investigation will be overseen by the FAA, which said the inquiry is not optional.

Related: SpaceX Crew-9 astronaut mission: Live updates

"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. 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," agency officials wrote in an update. 

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The Crew-9 anomaly was the third Falcon 9 issue that SpaceX has experienced in less than three months. On July 11, the rocket's upper stage sprang a liquid-oxygen leak that resulted in the loss of 20 of the company's Starlink internet satellites.

That incident grounded the Falcon 9 for two weeks. Then, on Aug. 28, a Falcon 9 first stage failed its landing attempt after a successful Starlink launch (which was the record-setting 23rd liftoff for that particular booster). SpaceX stood down for just a few days after the mishap, returning to flight on Aug. 31. 

It's unclear how long the current hiatus will last, or how it will affect SpaceX's always-busy launch manifest. The company has some very high-profile liftoffs planned for this month, including that of NASA's Europa Clipper mission, which is scheduled to launch toward the icy Jupiter ocean moon Europa atop a Falcon Heavy rocket during a 21-day window that opens on Oct. 10. The Falcon Heavy and the Falcon 9 use the same upper stage.

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Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

3 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Unclear Engineer
    This article does not make it clear, but other sources are reporting this as FAA "grounding" the Falcon 9 until it is satisfied with its investigation.

    As I posted before, this is probably the one of the last 3 Falcon 9 problems that can actually be stretched into a "public safety issue", but it is quite a stretch.

    Compared to letting the Boeing 737 continuing to fly with at least 3 rudder jamming problems during landings due to "defective parts" and many planes apparently still having those parts, this seems like a lot of "stretch" on SpaceX and an incredible amount of "shrinkage" for Boeing. There is clearly far more at public risk from Boeing landing jets packed with passengers and flying over dense population areas with rudders that may not keep the plane lined up with the runway than for a space vehicle with nobody aboard to even crash without any control at all somewhere random on the planet - something that China does routinely.
    Reply
  • Meteoric Marmot
    The FAA is unlikely to cut SpaceX any slack as long as Musk is slagging them at every opportunity. To do so would imply that his rants are having the effect Musk wants.
    Reply
  • Unclear Engineer
    I agree that Musk is not being smart about how to handle the FAA as an inter-personal relationship. But, with Asperger's Syndrome, that is not his strong suit, anyway. And, maybe being smart did not work for him with FAA in the past - their actions seemed unnecessarily restrictive before he became so blunt. Being blunt about it may have more effect, especially considering the contrast with other regulated entities and the national importance of the success of SpaceX in the launch and space technology development business.

    Whatever, at this point, it is hard to show that FAA has a real reason to declare mishaps and lack of authorizations that don't show bias on the part of the agency. That really needs to be corrected, even just for the sake of public opinion about the FAA. Their current administrator did not really justify a "public safety" need for several of their earlier actions, and did demonstrate an inability to approve changes in a timely manner. Remember, they did eventually approve the things they are now fining Space X for doing before the agency got its act together to issue the approvals fast enough to not disrupt the launch schedules.

    Many space launches have deadlines that are set by physical realities of celestial body motions or lifetimes of equipment that has already been activated. Having the FAA take every opportunity to disrupt the SpaceX launch schedules for arbitrary time periods is definitely impinging on a lot of goals that are important to space exploration and our national leadership in that field.
    Reply