SpaceX Fails to Make ANOTHER Landing: Elon Musk’s Falcon 9 Missile Misses Droneship and Crashes into Ocean After Starlink Mission
- SpaceX’s Falcon 9 missile missed the droneship upon landing on Monday
- The rocket landed on Naturally I Still Love You, but crashed into the ocean
- Elon Musk said they were able to restore the missile’s active fairing half
- SpaceX will launch another batch of Starlink satellites tonight at 9:55 p.m. ET
SpaceX failed to make a new landing following the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket Monday night.
The missile successfully launched a new batch of 60 Starlink Internet satellites into orbit, but the booster missed the Naturally I Still Love You droneship in Port Canaveral on its return.
During the mission’s SpaceX livestream, a flash of light can be seen on the right side of the landing pad when the booster was set to land.
While the company has not made an official announcement, CEO Elon Musk hints on Twitter that it crashed into the ocean.
A Twitter user posted shortly after the Monday mission, ‘RIP booster you’re missing,’ to which Musk replied, ‘Yes. However, the active cockpit half recovered. ‘
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Monday’s Starlink mission began at 10:59 a.m.ET, when Falcon 9 fired its engine and took off into the night sky
The botched booster landing comes just two weeks after the SpaceX Starship Serial Number 9 (SN9) prototype exploded as it attempted to land after its first high-altitude test on Feb. 2.
Monday’s Starlink mission began at 10:59 p.m. ET, when Falcon 9 ignited its engine and took off into the night sky.
Because the area was completely dark, the rocket looked like a shooting star going back into space.
After releasing the batch of Starlinks, the booster made for a successful reentry by re-igniting its three engines to slow down.
During SpaceX’s live stream of the mission, a flash of light can be seen on the right side of the landing pad when the booster was set to land
Moments later, SpaceX ran the droneship livestream to watch the booster land, but things didn’t go as planned.
“Looks like we haven’t landed a booster on Of Course I Still Love You,” said one of the ground crew members on the livestream.
“It’s a shame we didn’t find this booster.”
The failed landing took place nearly a year after another booster was lost during the landing at sea.
Because the area was completely dark, the rocket looked like a shooting star going back into space. After releasing the batch of Starlinks, the booster allowed for a successful reentry by re-igniting the three engines to slow down
While the company has not made an official announcement, CEO Elon Musk hints on Twitter that it crashed into the ocean. A Twitter user posted shortly after the Monday mission, ‘RIP booster you’re missing,’ to which Musk replied, ‘Yes. However, the active cockpit half recovered
However, the accident hasn’t stopped SpaceX from launching its 20th batch of Starlink satellites at 9:55 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
SpaceX rarely has issues with its Falcon 9 missiles, but the same cannot be said for its Starship missile prototypes.
On February 2, the company lost its SN9 and in December its SN8 – both exploded while attempting to land.
The SN9 hit its high altitude, but on its return journey, the massive rocket failed to accelerate in time and collided with the launch pad.
However, SN8 looked like it was going to get stuck on the landing but exploded as soon as it hit the ground.