This image from a SpaceX video shows the upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launched from California on Thursday.
SpaceX/AP
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SpaceX/AP
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — For the first time in nearly a decade, a SpaceX rocket has failed, leaving the company’s internet satellites in an orbit so low that they’re doomed to fall through the atmosphere and burn up.
The Falcon 9 rocket launched from California on Thursday night, carrying 20 Starlink satellites. Minutes into the flight, the upper stage engine failed. SpaceX on Friday blamed the failure on a liquid oxygen leak.
The company said flight controllers were able to establish contact with half of the satellites and attempt to boost them to a higher orbit using onboard ion engines. But with the low end of their orbit just 84 miles (135 kilometers) above Earth — less than half of what was intended — “our maximum available thrust is likely not enough to successfully elevate the satellites,” the company said via X.
SpaceX said the satellites would reenter the atmosphere and burn up. It did not say when they would crash. More than 6,000 Starlinks in orbit are currently providing internet service to customers in some of the most remote corners of the world.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the problem must be resolved before Falcon rockets can fly again.
It was not known if or how the accident would affect SpaceX’s upcoming crew flights. The billionaire’s spaceflight is scheduled to launch July 31 from Florida, with plans for the first private spacewalk, followed by an astronaut flight to the International Space Station for NASA in mid-August.
The tech entrepreneur who will lead the private flight, Jared Isaacman, said Friday that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has “an incredible track record” and also has an emergency egress system.
The last failed launch occurred in 2015 during a cargo flight from a space station. Another rocket exploded during a ground test the following year.
SpaceX’s Elon Musk said the high flight frequency makes it easier to identify and fix the problem.