The Falcon 9 rocket may return to flight as soon as Tuesday night
Enlarge / File photo of a Falcon 9 launch on May 6 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. (credit: SpaceX)
It was only about 10 days ago that the Falcon 9 rocket's upper stage failed in flight, preventing the rocket from delivering its 20 Starlink satellites into a proper orbit. Because they were released lower than expected-about 135 km above the Earth's surface and subject to atmospheric drag-these satellites ultimately reentered the planet's atmosphere and burnt up.
Typically, after a launch failure, a rocket will be sidelined for months while engineers and technicians comb over the available data and debris to identify a cause, perform tests, and institute a fix.
However, according to multiple sources, SpaceX was ready to launch the Falcon 9 rocket as soon as late last week. Currently, the company has a launch opportunity for no earlier than 12:14 am ET (04:14 UTC) on Wednesday for its Starlink 10-4 mission.