SpaceX's Falcon 9 cleared to return to space, FAA says

[July 26, 2024]  (Reuters) -SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket has been cleared to return to space by the U.S. aviation regulator after it was grounded by a rare mid-flight failure, the Federal Aviation administration (FAA) said on Thursday.   

SpaceX's Falcon 9 is pictured launching satellites to orbit in space after it lifted off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, U.S., in this screenshot obtained from a handout video released on July 12, 2024. SpaceX/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

The FAA said it did not find any public safety issues in the anomaly that occurred during the failed July 11 launch and the rocket can return to flight operations while the overall investigation continues.

SpaceX said in a post on X that it was ready to return the rocket to flight as soon as Saturday, July 27.

Falcon 9, which is the world's most used rocket, was grounded after one broke apart in space and doomed its payload of Starlink satellites, the first failure in more than seven years of a rocket relied upon by the global space industry.

In a statement on Thursday, SpaceX said that a liquid oxygen leak led to excessive cooling of one of its engine components and damaged its hardware.

"A crack in a sense line for a pressure sensor" was identified as the cause of the leak and that the failed sense line and sensor on the second stage engine will be removed for near term launches, SpaceX added.

Falcon 9 is the only U.S. rocket capable of sending NASA crews to the International Space Station. NASA is expecting to launch its next astronaut mission in August, with SpaceX's Crew Dragon astronaut capsule launching atop the rocket.

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Chandni Shah; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Edwina Gibbs)

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