FAA grounds SpaceX’s Starship after another launch mishap
IPO? More like IP-uh-oh
Another Starship launch, another Federal Aviation Administration-mandated grounding and mishap investigation that couldn’t come at a worse time as SpaceX attempts to court investors for what could be the largest IPO in history.
As we reported earlier this week, Friday’s launch of the latest iteration of Starship atop its Super Heavy booster started off well enough, but things went sideways during the booster’s return sequence. After separating from Starship, the Super Heavy booster attempted its flip maneuver and boostback burn, but engine relight issues prevented a controlled descent, and the craft ended up in the Gulf of Mexico, leading to air traffic delays.
Starship reached space, but trouble with one of its Raptor engines forced SpaceX to cancel a planned in-space relight test, further delaying efforts to demonstrate controlled deorbit capability.
It took until Wednesday for the FAA to declarethe Super Heavy anomaly a...
Copyright of this story solely belongs to theregister.com. To see the full text click HERE
