a sad day indeed for the first time in over 3 years SpaceX missed a booster Landing interrupting its streak as it was on the verge of setting a new record this unexpected event prompted the FAA to request an investigation sparking various reactions across the Aerospace Community what exactly happened and what's going to happen next SpaceX wasn't the only one facing challenge is another us company also encountered a setback during a rocket test underscoring the inherent difficulties in developing Rockets there is a lot to cover today so let's Dive Right In on today's episode of great SpaceX recently at 3:48 a.m. on August 28th SpaceX launched a falcon 9 from SLC 40 in Florida carrying 21 Starling satellites into orbit this mission was poised to set several significant Milestones the 367th launch today the 82nd falcon9 Mission this year the 342nd landing to date and notably the 23rd Landing of the falcon9 booster b162 a record-breaking reuse that would have further solidified spacex's dominance in the field of reusable Rockets however an unexpected incident occurred that halted these achievements after stage separation the booster returned to land on the Dron ship a shortfall of Gravitas everything appeared routine until the booster approached the Drone ship upon watching the landing video it was clear that something was a miss the landing speed seemed unusually fast as the booster neared the Drone ship its Landing legs deployed as expected but the engines continued to burn suggesting a potential issue with deceleration the booster then tilted toward one leg the Flames intensified and the booster tipped over likely resulting in its destruction this marks a significant incident in Falcon 9's Landing record breaking a streak of 267 consecutive successful Landings over more than 3 and 1/2 years since the last failure in February of 2021 this incident is especially notable because SpaceX has set a high bar for reliability with each successful Landing showcasing the company's engineering prowess it's worth noting that another falcon9 booster b158 was lost late last year due to high winds and waves during recovery a different scenario from this incident which occurred during the actual Landing process SpaceX has announced that it will investigate the issue to determine the root cause based on observations and initial analyses there are a few possible explanations for what went wrong firstly the engine may not have decelerated the booster sufficiently for a soft Landing the landing speed was noticeably higher than usual and the engines didn't fully shut down even as the booster was almost in contact with the Drone ship with flames still visible this suggests a problem in the deceleration phase where the booster velocity wasn't adequately reduced leading to a harder than usual touchdown secondly the landing leg may not have locked securely potentially due to interference from the engine Flames this could have caused the booster to topple over as it tried to land Additionally the landing leg might have caught fire exacerbating the situation and leading to a more significant failure spreading Flames to other parts of the booster and causing everything to spiral out of control these are just speculations and I invite you to share your analysis in the comments so we can discuss it further as expected the FAA quickly launched an investigation in their statement they said the FAA is requiring an investigation an investigation is designed to further enhance Public Safety determine the root cause of the event and identify corrective actions to avoid it from happening again the FAA will be involved in every step of the investigation process and must approve spacex's final report including any corrective actions regarding future flights the FAA added a return to Flight of the falcon9 booster rocket is based on the FAA determining that any system process or procedure related to the anomaly does not affect public safety in addition SpaceX may need to request and receive approval from the FAA to modify its license that incorporates any corrective actions and meets all other licensing requirements while an investigation is necessary I question why the FAA is scrutinizing a process like Landing which doesn't significantly impact the mission's primary goal of deploying satellites the primary objective of the mission deploying Starling satellites was achieved successfully but the focus on reusability is where SpaceX has set itself apart this investigation could slow spacex's progress especially after the FAA also investigated a recent falcon9 second stage anomaly it could even delay other missions including the highly anticipated Polaris Dawn spacex's VP of Falcon launch Vehicles John Edward commented losing a booster is always sad each one of them has a unique history and character thankfully this doesn't happen often due to the robust design and vigilance of the team we are working as hard as we can to thoroughly understand the rot cause and get corrective actions in place ASAP one thing we do know one thing we do know though is that this was purely a recovery issue and posed no threat to the primary Mission or Public Safety Kiko donev spacex's VP of launch supported this view emphasizing that the incident was a unique failure in the otherwise reliable recovery process I hope the FAA concludes its investigation swiftly their own statement confirms that no public injuries or public prop damage have been reported spacex's strategy of landing on a drone ship in the ocean is a genius solution that minimizes risks to people and infrastructure further justifying the need for a prompt resolution to avoid unnecessary delays the incident did not affect the Starling deployment which was the mission's primary objective the impact is on spacex's reusability goals a feat few companies can achieve the booster's reusability is a Cornerstone of spacex's cost saving strategy and its ability to maintain a high launch Cadence delays in the faa's investigation could disrupt important missions Polaris Dawn for example might not launch in August as planned in September there is crew nine and NASA recently selected SpaceX Dragon for the potential Rescue of star ler astronauts any delays in the investigation could affect these missions leading to a ripple effect that could impact spacex's schedule and broader objectives more broadly spacex's focus on landing and reuse distinguishes it from the competition the f aa's investigations into landing incidents could hinder this trend making new companies hesitant to develop similar capabilities thereby impacting the US's Competitive Edge in Space the global space industry is closely watching how the FAA handles this as it could influence the future of reusable rocket technology we'll have to wait for further updates from the FAA and SpaceX however we can be optimistic that the issue will be resolved quickly in a recent second stage anomaly SpaceX and the FAA took just two weeks to resume flights so this Landing incident might be resolved even faster the SpaceX team's diligence in identifying and addressing the issue will be crucial and their ability to quickly learn from failures has been a Hallmark of their success this incident also serves as a valuable opportunity for SpaceX to review and enhance its systems after a long period of success Elon Musk commented now we figure out what went wrong to drive the landing failure rate above a dou above 1 in a th000 then 1 in 10,000 1 in a million Etc regarding Polaris Dawn musk emphasized safety saying we could have launched and it would have been fine but safety is Paramount so better to check all systems again as for the mission Hardware b162 launched for the 23rd time marking a significant milestone in spacex's reuse strategy and the company's overall Excellence while this might be the final mission for b162 its contribution to spacex's success has been invaluable and it has paved a way for future boosters to achieve even greater Milestones this may well be the last contribution of b162 to spacex's missions as it might have reached its operational limit however this incident will drive SpaceX to further improve its systems aiming for even more ambitious Milestones such as 40 flights per booster currently SpaceX has b1061 with 22 launches b106 7 with 21 launches and many other boosters that have surpassed 10 launches these will continue to operate building on the achievements of b162 during this challenging time I hope you continue to support the SpaceX team I believe that after this incident they'll make a strong comeback creating new milestones and achieving important goals please show your support and gratitude to b162 by commenting SPX 62 below then don't forget to like share the video and subscribe to to our channel to stay updated on spacex's Journey aside from SpaceX a space recently faced a significant challenge with their rs1 rocket during a static fire test the company ignited the E2 engines but the test was aborted after just a half a second due to a low pressure reading caused by a faulty sensor although the engines shut down as intended a fire broke out under the rocket fueled by leaks from two engines efforts to extinguish the fire were hampered by the Limited water supply causing the fire to spread eventually the rs1 collapsed onto the pad damaging critical electrical and plumbing connections the root cause was traced to issues with the propellant injector and liner likely due to differences in the block 2 stage 1 propellant feed system this incident follows a previous rs1 launch failure earlier in 2023 underlining the inherent difficulties in rocket development a space like many other companies in the space industry must navigate these technical challenges to advance their technology despite these setbacks a BL space remains committed to improving their systems and continuing their pursuit of reliable space launch capabilities their experiences reflect the high stakes and the persistent effort required in the Aerospace sector where every failure is a step toward eventual success well folks that's about it for today's episode thank you so much for tuning in and as always this has been Kevin from great SpaceX until next time keep looking up