A Falcon 9 first-stage booster broke apart after completing its 19th mission, tipping over on the floating droneship in the Atlantic Ocean due to high winds.
The SpaceX rocket launched on Saturday, December 23, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, while carrying 23 Starlink satellites to orbit. After landing on the company’s droneship, the rocket booster, known by its serial number B1058, was being transported back to shore when it tipped over due to high winds and waves, SpaceX revealed Tuesday on X (formerly Twitter).
“Super disappointing and sad to lose booster 1058,” Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX’s vice president of launch, wrote on X in reaction to the news. “Tippy boosters occur when you get a certain set of landing conditions that lead to the legs having uneven loading. Heavy wind or sea state then cause the booster to teeter and slide which can lead to even worse leg loading.”
It’s an unfortunate ending for the beloved B1058, the first Falcon 9 booster to transport astronauts to the International Space Station. On May 30, 2020, the first stage booster launched NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft for SpaceX’s first crewed mission. The historic feat also marked the first crewed flight for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and the first time astronauts launched from American soil since the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011.
Since then, the booster delivered 860 satellites to orbit through a record-breaking 19 missions. “Newer Falcon boosters have upgraded landing legs with the capability to self-level and mitigate this type of issue,” SpaceX wrote on X.
The company isn’t going to discard the broken-off bits of its iconic rocket booster though. “We are planning to salvage the engines and do life leader inspections on the remaining hardware,” Jon Edwards, SpaceX’s vice president of Falcon launch vehicles, wrote on X. “There is still quite a bit of value in this booster. We will not let it go to waste.”
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