SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster returning after launch became a ball of fire video

Falcon 9 rocket Blast: SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket has given another blow to ‘Elon Musk’s company. The first-stage booster of this reusable rocket could not land properly and caught fire. Last month itself, this rocket failed in space and because of that 20 Starlink satellites could not reach their orbit. Now the failure has raised the question whether the time has come to replace the Falcon-9 rocket.

According to reports, Falcon 9 took off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday. The rocket was launched to deliver SpaceX’s 21 Starlink satellites into orbit. That was the 23rd mission of the rocket’s first stage booster.

Falcon 9 B1062 completes 23 missions but unfortunately topples over on ASOG. Before this, SpaceX had 267 successful Falcon booster landings in a row.

Please note that they always expected to lose some boosters on landing; it was just crazy that they had such a run of successes. https://t.co/q6pRXA3ktf pic.twitter.com/yQySUlamWU

— Chris Bergin – NSF (@NASASpaceflight) August 28, 2024

As planned, the rocket delivered all the Starlink satellites into their orbit. But its first-stage booster could not complete its landing. Each Falcon-9 first stage booster lands on a SpaceX drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean 8.5 minutes after launch. This time it did not happen and the booster overturned after some time. Landing video showed flames coming out of the booster’s base just before it splashed down.

This incident is shocking and disappointing, because no one would have expected this from a reusable rocket. This booster has made 23 flights so far and has also taken astronauts to space.

SpaceX has not declared its booster dead yet. In a social media post, the company has said that it is assessing the flight data and condition of the booster. SpaceX had also planned to launch a Starlink mission on Thursday, but the mission has been postponed after the accident on Wednesday.

This accident has also raised concerns for the Polaris Dawn mission. That mission is to be launched on August 30. For the first time, a private commercial spacewalk will be conducted in space with the Polaris mission.