On Thursday night, July 11, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 20 Starlink satellites toward low Earth orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
However, two hours after the launch, the chief executive of SpaceX took to its X account to report that the rocket had suffered a (RUD) rapid unscheduled disassembly while in orbit.
The next day, SpaceX updated that the second stage had experienced a liquid leak, “the second stage engine did not complete its second burn. As a result, the Starlink satellites were deployed into a lower than intended orbit.”
They also shared, “SpaceX has made contact with 5 of the satellites so far and is attempting to have them raise orbit using their ion thrusters.”
However, SpaceX refused to provide more details about the second stage and reveal the intensity of damage it incurred in the process. Later, they updated on X, “As such, the satellites will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and fully demise. They do not pose a threat to other satellites in orbit or to public safety.”
Falcon 9 abnormalities are rare, and the last time it suffered a catastrophic in-flight failure was in 2016. Apart from that, since its debut in 2010, it has never completed over 300 successful missions.
However, it is speculated that this anomaly is going to slow down the crewed launches, the private Polaris Dawn effort to low Earth orbit on July 31, and the Crew-9 mission to the ISS for NASA next month.
“The FAA will be involved in every step of the investigation process and must approve SpaceX’s final report, including any corrective actions,” the FAA authorities said in recent anomaly updates. The FAA must approve any repairs and fixes before the launch can begin.
