According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Sunday, SpaceX’s reliable Falcon 9 rocket can resume flying for a mission scheduled for Monday that will see it launch the European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft from Florida.
The FAA said in a statement on October 6 that it had given the go-ahead for the Falcon 9 to resume flight only for the Hera mission, which is expected to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida no earlier than October 7. Since an anomaly during the second stage of the Crew-9 launch’s deorbit burn on September 28, the vehicle has been grounded.
According to the FAA, “if the mishap with the Crew-9 mission occurs again, the lack of a second stage reentry for this mission adequately mitigates the primary risk to the public,” the agency said. Hera will not rejoin because the second stage will send her on an Earth-escape trajectory.
However, the FAA went on to say that it is not approving any further Falcon 9 missions in which the second stage burns out of orbit. The FAA’s evaluation of SpaceX’s Crew-9 disaster investigation report and the date on which the agency approves Falcon 9’s resumption to regular operations would be determined by safety considerations, the statement went on.
On October 4, SpaceX finished the mishap report and submitted it to the FAA. The Falcon 9 was given FAA approval for “one mission only,” which was the launch of Hera that same day.
According to ESA officials at a briefing on October 2, while the Falcon 9 remained grounded, the Hera launch was being prepared so that the mission would be ready to launch as soon as the FAA-approved launch resumed. The asteroid Didymos and its moon Dimorphos, the focus of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission two years ago, will be the targets of the 363 million euro ($401 million) mission.
The FAA statement was made soon after Hera project leaders, including project manager Ian Carnelli, gave a briefing here and verified that the FAA had permitted SpaceX to move forward with the launch. After finishing up vehicle assembly, SpaceX planned to roll the rocket out to the launch pad, subject to a late-afternoon launch readiness check.
On October 7, liftoff is planned for 10:52 a.m. Eastern. “The weather is the last obstacle,” he stated. There is just a 15% likelihood of suitable weather for that immediate launch window on October 7, according to a forecast from the Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron. “That’s the only thing that I can’t control.”
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Hurricane Milton, which developed in the Gulf of Mexico and quickly intensified into a hurricane, further complicates such plans. As it approaches Florida from the east, the storm is predicted to strengthen into a major hurricane by October 9th.
On October 7, liftoff is planned for 10:52 a.m. Eastern. “The weather is the last obstacle,” he stated. There is just a 15% likelihood of suitable weather for that immediate launch window on October 7, according to a forecast from the Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron. “That’s the only thing that I can’t control.”
Hurricane Milton, which developed in the Gulf of Mexico and quickly intensified into a hurricane, further complicates such plans. As it approaches Florida from the east, the storm is predicted to strengthen into a major hurricane by October 9th.
Another delay in a crew’s return from the International Space Station is Hurricane Milton. Originally scheduled to occur on October 7 for a splashdown off the coast of Florida, NASA rescheduled the Crew Dragon spacecraft’s undocking for the Crew-8 mission from the station to October 8 and then October 10.
NASA indicated that on October 8, it will evaluate the Crew-8 splashdown plans once more. As part of the Crew-8 mission, three NASA astronauts and one Roscosmos astronaut have been on the station since the beginning of March.
