In a sudden turn of events, SpaceX's resilient Falcon 9 booster, which had achieved an unprecedented 19 successful landings, has toppled down and ended up at sea (via Orlando Sentinel).
Fair winds and following seas.
— Max Evans (@_mgde_) December 26, 2023
Following rough conditions in the Atlantic after the Starlink 6-32 mission, Falcon 9 first stage B1058.20 became unstable and tipped over on drone ship, Just Read The Instructions.
📸 - @NASASpaceflight
📺 - https://t.co/AFdPuCYKLR pic.twitter.com/clEGaxpeeR
The incident occurred while the booster was returning to Florida, when rough weather off the Atlantic coast caused it to topple on the droneship. Considering the booster's illustrious history, this marks a notable setback for SpaceX.
Falcon 9 Tips Over on Droneship
The Falcon 9 booster, imprinted with NASA's iconic "worm" logo from its historic Demo-2 mission in 2020, had become a symbol of SpaceX's reusability expertise.
Despite its notable history, the vessel was destroyed during transport due to high winds and waves, as revealed by SpaceX in a late Monday announcement.
Images circulating on social media showed the fallen booster, revealing a depressing scene with only the bottom portion of its 135-foot-tall fuselage remaining on the droneship, Just Read the Instructions.
SpaceX clarified that newer Falcon boosters have upgraded landing legs designed to self-level, alleviating such concerns. Unfortunately, this booster did not have this feature.
Read Also: Flying High: NASA's Aeronautic Breakthroughs in 2023
The Booster's Final Flight
The booster's final flight went on just days before the incident, and it carried 23 of SpaceX's Starlink satellites before landing on the droneship for the first time.
This booster's significance extends beyond its final journey; it played a critical role in the Crew Demo-2 flight on May 30, 2020. This mission marked the first return of human spaceflight from the Space Coast since the Space Shuttle Program ended in 2011.
The Crew Demo-2 flight laid the groundwork for SpaceX's subsequent commercial and private missions, totalling 42 humans flown to space across 11 missions.
During its long career, the booster also contributed to missions such as ANASIS-11, CRS-21, Transporter-1, Transporter-3, and various Starlink deployments.
SpaceX highlighted the booster's staggering achievements, emphasizing that it alone launched two astronauts and over 860 satellites, accumulating a total payload of 260+ metric tons in just over three and a half years.
The Falcon fleet’s life leading rocket completed its 19th and final launch and landing on December 23. This one reusable rocket booster alone launched to orbit 2 astronauts and more than 860 satellites — totaling 260+ metric tons — in ~3.5 years pic.twitter.com/q1ANdGCpEg
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 26, 2023
SpaceX's Impressive Reusable Rocket Efforts
Despite this setback, SpaceX maintains a remarkable track record with 256 successful landings among Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.
The incident represents the first lost booster since February 2021, a testament to the reliability of SpaceX's reusability efforts.
SpaceX is on the brink of reaching 100 launches for the year, with the Space Coast accounting for 66 out of 70 launches.
The company's next mission involves a Falcon Heavy liftoff from KSC's Launch Pad 39-A, carrying the secretive X-37B spacecraft for the Space Force on the USSF-52 mission.
Stay posted here at Tech Times.
Related Article: SpaceX Launches 23 Starlink Satellites on Falcon 9 Rocket's Historic 18th Flight
