A severely damaged SpaceX Falcon 9 booster arrived at Port Canaveral on Wednesday, marking a rare sight among routine space hardware. The rocket’s landing legs were stuck in the air, and its melted body hung off the side of the drone ship. Only nine engines remained intact.
The incident occurred during Sunday night’s Starlink launch when the booster experienced a fire after landing successfully. A short hold was made for U.S. Coast Guard clearance before the damaged booster entered the port.
Although the mission to deploy the Starlink satellites was considered successful, the first-stage booster was lost due to the post-landing fire. The booster had previously flown three other missions and had landed safely five times.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has declared the event a “mishap” and requires SpaceX to investigate and submit a report. This is not the first time a SpaceX Falcon 9 experienced an issue during landing, with previous incidents reported in August 2024 and another Starship rocket disintegrating in February.
In a statement, SpaceX said they will use the data from this incident to make future rockets more reliable on ascent and landing.
Source: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/03/06/burned-spacex-falcon-9-rocket-port-canaveral/81838702007