SpaceX: Falcon 9 after 2 weeks forced break with 3 smooth launches in 2 days

SpaceX's successful rocket is back on course. After the US regulatory authorities cleared the Falcon 9 for launch again last week, SpaceX wasted no time and carried out three launches this weekend. All three missions apparently successfully launched Starlink satellites into orbit for the company's satellite internet.

In themselves, these launches are no longer anything special; after all, they were launches number 73 to 75 this year alone. However, during the previous mission at the beginning of July, there was a rare problem for SpaceX. The engine had shut down prematurely, meaning that the satellites could not be brought to their intended positions and burned up. As a result, the FAA shut down the Falcon 9 to investigate the incident.

Towards the end of last week, SpaceX announced that the Merlin engine had successfully completed the first ignition after separation from the first stage of the rocket and was on its way to the planned altitude for launching the satellites. However, an oxygen leak had occurred near the engine, causing ice to form. This led to the automatic shutdown of the engine and the satellites were released too early.

First incident after almost 300 successful missions

After a brief investigation, engineers and technicians attributed this to a crack in a series of pressure sensors. According to SpaceX, this crack was caused by material fatigue due to heavy loads caused by vibrations from the engines. According to the company, however, these sensors are not necessary for operation. They are redundant and were installed at the request of a previous customer. In future, the Falcon 9 rocket will be launched without these sensors.

It was SpaceX's first failed mission after 297 successful Falcon 9 rocket launches, reports Ars Technica. The last major incident occurred in September 2016, when a Falcon 9 rocket and an Amos 6 satellite were destroyed in an explosion at Cape Canaveral.

Three Starlink missions in one weekend

SpaceX apparently identified the cause of the failure of the previous mission within hours and the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released the Falcon 9 after just under two weeks last Thursday. SpaceX resumed its rocket launches just two days later. This short period of time between accident and resumption of flight operations seems unprecedented in the history of human spaceflight.

Over the weekend, SpaceX has now launched a total of 67 Starlink satellites into orbit in three rocket launches. The first Falcon took off from the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday night with 23 satellites. Around 24 hours later, the next Falcon 9, also carrying 23 satellites, lifted off from a neighboring launch pad in Florida. The third Falcon 9 took off around four hours later from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California with 21 satellites. On all three missions, the first rocket stage successfully returned to Earth, SpaceX wrote on X/Twitter.

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