U.S. officials ground SpaceX launches after Falcon 9 rocket fails in landing attempt

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administrationsaid on Wednesday SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket has been grounded afterfailing an attempt to land back on Earth during a routineStarlink mission, forcing the company's second grounding this year.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 successfully launched a batch of Starlink internet satellites into orbit early on Wednesdaymorning from Florida.

The rocket's reusable first-stage boosterreturned to Earth and attempted to land on a sea-faring barge asusual, but toppled into the ocean after a fiery touchdown, aSpaceX live stream showed.

It's too early to know how much impact this will have on SpaceX's upcoming crew flights. Besides a private spaceflight awaiting liftoff from Florida's Kennedy Space Center, SpaceX is due to launch a pair of astronauts for NASA late next month.

Two seats will be set aside for the two astronauts who launched in June aboard Boeing's new Starliner capsule, deemed unsafe by NASA for their return.

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Groundings of Falcon 9, a rocket that much of the Western world relies on to put satellites and humans in space, are rare. The rocket was last grounded in July for the first time since 2016, following asecond-stage failure in spacethat doomed a batch of Starlink satellites.

SpaceX's Jon Edwards, a vice-president, said the company is workingto understand what went wrong.

"Losing a booster is always sad. Each one of them has a unique history and character. Thankfully this doesn't happen often," Edwards posted on X.

SpaceXhas built a sizable fleet of reusable Falcon boosters since the rocket's first launch in 2010 that has allowed the company to vastly outpace its rivals in launch frequency. The individual booster that failed on Wednesday was on its 23rd flight,SpaceXwrote on X.

Another Starlink mission was poised for launch shortly after Wednesday's flight, fromSpaceX's other launch site in southern California, but the company called that mission off after the landing failure.

The FAA regulates private rockets and launch site safety to the extent they impact the safety of the uninvolved public. The agency on Wednesday requiredSpaceXto open an investigation that the FAA will oversee.

"A return to flight of the Falcon 9 booster rocket is based on the FAA determining that any system, processor procedure related to the anomaly does not affect public safety," the FAA said.

1st-everspacewalkby private company also delayed

The rocket's grounding could stallthe launch ofSpaceX's high-profilePolaris Dawn missionwith four private astronauts even further. The Polaris mission had been expected to launch this week but was delayed by alaunchpad hitch, and thenagainover bad weather.

The highlight of the Crew Dragon capsule's mission was expected to come two days after launch, when the crew was scheduled to embarkon the first ever spacewalk by a private company. The launch was to becarried by a Falcon 9 booster.

Only government astronauts have performed spacewalks to date, most recently by occupants of the International Space Station, who regularly don spacesuits to perform maintenance and other checks of their orbital home.

The first U.S. spacewalk was in 1965, aboard a Gemini capsule, and used a similar procedure to the one planned for Polaris Dawn: the capsule was depressurized, the hatch openedand a spacesuited astronaut ventured outside on a tether. Polaris Dawn's crew will also be testing SpaceX's newslimline spacesuits during the spacewalk.

Only two of the four billionaire Jared Isaacman, mission pilot Scott Poteet, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant coloneland SpaceX employees Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both senior engineers at the company will leave the spacecraft.

Isaacman, the founder of electronic payment company Shift4, bankrolled the mission. Hehas declined to say how much he has spent, but it is estimated to be more than $100 million.