The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States announced on Friday, October 11th that it has approved SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket to resume flights, following a review and acceptance of the investigation results and corrective measures taken after the accident on September 28th.
FAA and SpaceX have not provided detailed information on the results of the investigation or the corrective measures that have been put in place.
“FAA notified SpaceX on October 11th that the Falcon 9 rocket has been approved to resume normal flight operations,” announced the FAA on Friday.
On September 30th, FAA stated that SpaceX was required to investigate why the second stage of its Falcon 9 rocket suffered an anomaly after carrying out a mission for NASA on September 28th, marking the third halt in flights for the rocket within three months. The malfunction led to the booster falling into an area of the Pacific Ocean outside the approved mission safety zone by FAA.
Despite the grounding of Falcon 9 rocket’s flights after the September 28th incident, FAA granted a special approval on October 6th, allowing the rocket to fly again on October 7th for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hera probe mission, with the stipulation that the resumption of Falcon 9’s operations was limited to this particular mission for the time being.
While FAA announced on October 11th the permission for Falcon 9 to resume operations, SpaceX has not yet specified when the next flight will take place.
The company is currently preparing for a new round of test flights for the Starship. Reuters reported earlier this week that FAA might approve the launch of SpaceX’s “Starship 5” as early as this month. “Starship 5” refers to the fifth test launch of the Starship. Last month, FAA stated that a decision on the permit was not expected before the end of November.
SpaceX stated on Monday, October 7th that the fifth test launch of Starship could potentially take place on Sunday, October 13th. Though the launch has not yet received approval from regulatory authorities, SpaceX continues its launch preparations, which include issuing airspace and maritime notifications and closing roads near the Starbase.
On Tuesday, October 8th, FAA mentioned that it is still reviewing the proposed mission and will make a decision once SpaceX meets all permit requirements.