FAA halts SpaceX launches after rocket explodes in Falcon disaster for Elon Musk

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has put a halt to SpaceX launches following a series of recent failures, dealing another blow to Elon Musk's aerospace company.

An investigation is under way after a SpaceX booster collapsed and exploded while attempting to land on the "A Shortfall of Gravitas" recovery vessel on Wednesday. The probe was triggered due to the "permanent loss of vehicle."

The Falcon 9 rocket is now grounded and will only be allowed to relaunch once the FAA concludes its investigation, as per an official statement. Musk shared his thoughts on social media platform X, writing: "Now we figure out what went wrong to drive the landing failure rate far above 1 in a thousand, then 1 in 10 thousand ... 1 in a million, etc.", reports the Express US .

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The mishap occurred after the Falcon 9 successfully deployed 21 satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida. However, one of the booster's legs failed, with close inspection revealing a leg piston splitting into two parts.

This incident marks the first Falcon 9 landing issue since February 2021, although a booster did fall off the landing barge during rough seas in December 2023. SpaceX confirmed that Falcon 9 was being stood down from a launch attempt at Vandenberg Space Force Base following the booster failure.

The company stated it needed "to give the team time to review booster landing data from the previous launch." The lower half of Falcon 9's booster was finally safely placed on the landing vessel and will be brought back to port for an investigation and possible recovery of valuable engines.

Specialists predict that the suspension will probably last about two weeks. This will also impact the launches of Polaris Dawn, OneWeb, and ASTSpaceMobile.