Update 5:20 a.m. EDT: SpaceX is scrubbing the Starlink 9-5 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base to allow more time to review the data from the B1062 landing failure.
For the first time in more than three years, SpaceX lost one of its reusable Falcon 9 boosters during a landing attempt amid the Starlink 8-6 mission on Wednesday morning. As it was touching down on the droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas,’ a green flash could be seen around the Merlin engines before the engine section was engulfed in flames and the booster toppled over and exploded.
While recovering the booster is a secondary part of the mission compared to the deployment of the 21 Starlink satellites, SpaceX’s business model is based on the reusability of its rockets’ first stage boosters. Whatever issue ultimately led to the demise of the booster, tail number B1062, snapped a streak of 267 successful booster landings.
After sending 21 Starlink satellites on their way to orbit, Falcon 9 booster 1062, making its 23rd flight, tipped over and exploded as it landed on the drone ship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’. It was the first Falcon 9 landing failure since Feb. 2021. Watch a replay of our live… pic.twitter.com/Dquqk2DL2R
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) August 28, 2024
Prior to the Aug. 28 mishap, the most recent failure happened on Feb. 16, 2021, when the booster B1059 met its end amid the Starlink 19 v1.0 mission. That landing attempt was with SpaceX’s ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ droneship.
SpaceX decided to move forward with the launch of the Starlink 8-6 mission after weather concerns stymied the launch of four astronauts on the Polaris Dawn mission. The company announced it would launch back-to-back batches of Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rockets from both Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Vandenberg Space Force Base Wednesday morning.
Starlink 8-6 was first up to bat, launching from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at 3:48 a.m. EDT (0748 UTC). It was set to be followed by the Starlink 9-5 mission from VSFB, but SpaceX opted to hold off on that for now “to give the team time to review booster landing data.”
The Wednesday morning flight of B1062 marked a record 23rd launch of a booster. This made it the flight leader for SpaceX. It previously supported the launches of two GPS satellites, two astronaut mission (Inspiration4 and Axiom Mission 1) and 15 Starlink flights.
The issue came about 8.5 minutes after liftoff, when B1062 made its landing attempt on ASOG. It would’ve been the 342nd booster landing to date.
Onboard the flight were 21 Starlink satellites, including 13 that feature Direct to Cell capabilities. The successful deployment of the satellites brings SpaceX up to 155 DTC Starlink satellites launched to date.
During its mission, the astronauts of the forthcoming Polaris Dawn mission will perform a on-orbit demonstration of Starlink connectivity. Mission commander Jared Isaacman told Spaceflight Now in July that this will be a good stepping stone to help push forward communication in space.
“There is only so much capacity on the TDRSS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System) satellites. Ground stations, there’s not many of them. They are also in demand. And if you can create a constellation, not just in low Earth orbit, but in lunar orbit as well, you can transmit very effectively over laser links,” Isaacman said. “It is a good step in that direction and SpaceX is already moving in that direction of making available those laser links on Starlink to other providers. So, it’s really awesome just for all of commercial space.”
Polaris Dawn is now set to launch no earlier than Friday, Aug. 30, after weather conditions forecast for their planned return from space pushed the launch date off of Wednesday.
Our launch criteria are heavily constrained by forecasted splashdown weather conditions. With no ISS rendezvous and limited life support consumables, we must be absolutely sure of reentry weather before launching. As of now, conditions are not favorable tonight or tomorrow, so… https://t.co/Zpd3pY5kNF
— Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) August 28, 2024
