Aug. 28 (UPI) — SpaceX said Wednesday morning that it is pausing a second deployment of Starlink satellites until it can examine the cause of first-stage booster failing on its return to Earth in an earlier launch that day.
The rocket that lifted off before dawn Wednesday appeared to tip over into the Atlantic Ocean about eight minutes after liftoff.
“Standing down from our second Starlink launch of the night to give the team to review booster landing data from the previous launch,” SpaceX said on X. “A new target launch date will be shared once available.”
The second stage of the rocket still managed to reach its orbit and deploy its satellites Wednesday morning.
“Payload deployment of 21 Starlink satellites, including 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities, confirmed,” SpaceX said.
The Flacon 9 rocket topped with a payload of 21 Internet satellites launched at 3:48 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
After separation, the first-stage booster returned to Earth, but upon touching down on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship in the Atlantic, it was seen in the live broadcast landing in an emission of fire before being thrust off the vessel.
The webcast of the launch was then cut away.
SpaceX later confirmed that the booster, which was on its 23rd mission, had “tipped over.”
“Teams are assessing the booster’s flight data and status,” it said.
The launch came hours after SpaceX again delayed its historic launch of the four-person Polaris Dawn crew who are to fly farther than any human has flown since the end of the Apollo missions.
It was scheduled to launch 10 minutes before the Starlink mission, also from Florida, but was called off due to unfavorable weather forecast for the Polaris Dawn’s return flight.
The Polaris Dawn launch was first scheduled for Monday but was then pushed to Tuesday when a helium leak caused plans for it to lift off on Wednesday. Now it appears that Friday would be the next possible launch date.
