SpaceX to pause launches after Falcon 9 issue on Crew-9 astronaut mission

[Admin]

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket experienced an issue during the Crew-9 astronaut launch on Sept. 28, and the company will stand down from liftoffs while figuring out what happened.

SpaceX to pause launches after Falcon 9 issue on Crew-9 astronaut mission : Read more

 

[Maat Chu]

Wind?

 

[Unclear Engineer]

It will be interesting to see how the FAA handles this. Because the deorbit burn did not keep the second stage impact point within the predicted area, they could reasonably say that it might be a public safety problem. However, the "public" on that part of Earth is limited to a few boats and ships making very long passages across the Pacific Ocean - which is the reason it has been chosen as the international dumping ground for unwanted space hardware.

On the other hand, I think it is wise for SpaceX to stand down Falcon 9 launches while it figures out why it has had 2 second stage rocket motor anomalous burns in the past 2 months.

But, that still is a lot less risky to the public than the recent tail rudder lockups during landings that have been occurring on Boeing 737s, and those are not grounded by the FAA, even though they carry passengers and fly over extremely densely populated areas, especially during landings.

 

[ultimatewizz]

The FAA does not need to be involved since they have to rely on SpaceX for the answer any way. SpaceX sees a problem stops and fixes it all on its own. They do not want mistakes to cost them money in the future. It is how they operate. Boeing has a problem and doesn't even know the cause because they build their test equipment on computers and SpaceX has all the information because it is all on the rockets. From conception to completion all their equipment is test live with monitors on board.

 

[Justin Willoughby]

Perhaps, the reduced weight of the 2 less meat sacks onboard the spacecraft made for a different amount of fuel aboard the second stage during the de-orbit burn, resulting in and off-target landing.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

Probably not the issue. For one thing, I think it overshot its landing zone, which means it cut off early, and did not achieve the intended velocity reduction. If the intended burn had not properly accounted for the reduced total craft weight, tt would have undershot the planned landing area, instead of overshooting it.

 

[ultimatewizz]

I don't know how many people are noticing but anything about Tesla or SpaceX not only get s front page but it stays there for weeks and often months. Just saw another article about the piece of debris landing in North Carolina back in May. In this case SpaceX grounded long before the FAA got around to saying it. SpaceX unlike Boeing does not have to go out in the desert and try to figure their problems. Boeing still hasn't come up with a definite cause for the problem with their capsules thrusters. SpaceX makes their equipment through trial and error with on board sensors, so they will solve this quickly and easily. 4 billion to build it while SpaceX had 2 billion to develope and build their Dragon capsule which is working well for 4 years now.