SpaceX teams reviewing data after rocket booster tips over, meets fiery demise atop drone ship
The descending SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket first-stage booster's landing legs made contact atop a drone ship in the predawn darkness Wednesday in the Atlantic Ocean.
But flames quickly billowed and leaped around the doomed booster — which then tumbled onto its side in a fiery mishap.
"Our @SpaceX @inspiration4x booster (B1062) is no longer operational. Thank you for your service and the out-of-this-world memories! RIP," Inspiration4 astronaut Sian Proctor said in a tweet, adding four crying emoji.
The booster got wrecked during SpaceX's Starlink 8-6 mission, which launched at 3:48 a.m. EDT Wednesday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The booster met its fiery demise on its 23rd flight after landing aboard the SpaceX drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Meanwhile, the rocket's upper stage successfully lifted 21 broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit, SpaceX reported.
Cape Canaveral: Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, NASA rocket launch schedule from Florida
SpaceX scrubs Polaris Dawn, launches Starlink instead
Initially, SpaceX crews intended to launch the four Polaris Dawn civilian crew members aboard a different Falcon 9 early Wednesday morning from NASA's adjacent Kennedy Space Center.
But that mission got scrubbed through at least Wednesday and Thursday because of unfavorable weather forecasted in the Dragon capsule's splashdown area off the Florida coastline. SpaceX officials swapped the Starlink 8-6 mission into its place.
No new Polaris Dawn target launch date was announced as of Wednesday morning. Instead, "SpaceX teams will continue to monitor weather for favorable launch and return conditions."
"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 we’ll assess day by day," Polaris Dawn mission commander Jared Isaacman said in a Tuesday night tweet.
"As Elon mentioned, Polaris Dawn is a challenging mission with critical objectives, so we’ll wait for the best opportunity to ensure success. Sometimes, the hardest journeys require the most patience, and we’re ready to wait for the right moment. We know many have traveled to see the launch, and we’re grateful for your support," Isaacman said.
Tipped booster previously launched Inspiration4
After the booster tipped over at sea about 8 minutes, 22 seconds after liftoff, SpaceX announced crews would stand down from a second Starlink launch Wednesday at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California "to give the team time to review booster landing data from the previous launch."
The lost booster previously launched GPS III Space Vehicle 04, GPS III Space Vehicle 05, Inspiration4, Ax-1, Nilesat 301, OneWeb Launch 17, ARABSAT BADR-8 and 15 Starlink missions.
Proctor's groundbreaking Inspiration4 mission, which was the first to feature an all-civilian crew, took flight in September 2021 from pad 39A at KSC.
Last December, SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster B1058 tipped over atop the drone ship Just Read the Instructions early amid rough Atlantic seas and gusty winds. The watercraft returned to Port Canaveral the day after Christmas, treating spectators to unique views of the mangled booster's interior from nearby docks and restaurants. That booster logged 19 missions.
In a tweet describing the B1058 incident, SpaceX officials said, "newer Falcon boosters have upgraded landing legs with the capability to self-level and mitigate this type of issue."
Booster B1062 from Wednesday's mission soared skyward in a northeasterly trajectory from Florida's Space Coast.
For the latest news and launch schedule from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at [email protected]. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX reviewing data after rocket booster tips over atop drone ship
