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BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A scorched and disfigured SpaceX Falcon 9 arrived at Port Canaveral on Wednesday, marking a rare sight among the routine space hardware that regularly comes through the Florida port.
The landing legs stuck up in the air and the melted rocket body hung off the side of the drone ship — making the first-stage booster nearly unrecognizable to casual observers. The only tell-tale signs that the object had been a Falcon 9 rocket were nine engines found intact.
SpaceX usually successfully lands the first stage of their Falcon 9 rockets. But this one had experienced a rare accident after Sunday night’s Starlink launch.
“While disappointing to lose a rocket after a successful mission, the team will use the data to make Falcon even more reliable on ascent and landing,” SpaceX said in a statement.
FAA: SpaceX Falcon 9 booster event declared a ‘mishap’
It appeared to be a routine Starlink mission with the booster landing, as planned, just over eight minutes into the mission after lifting off from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40. The SpaceX live video showed this footage a few seconds after the 9:30 p.m. landing on the Just Read the Instructions drone ship before cutting back to the animation of the rocket’s second stage ascending to orbit.
But not all went smoothly once the cameras turned off. According to SpaceX, a fire broke out at the bottom section of the first-stage booster that damaged the landing leg. This caused the booster to tip over onto the drone ship.
Just Read the Instructions was stationed about 250 miles off the coast of Florida on the Atlantic Ocean at the time.
At Port Canaveral, the drone ship experienced a short hold Wednesday for U.S. Coast Guard clearance before entering the port with the battered booster. It waited in the turning basin for a bit before proceeding to its usual parking spot by the industrial cranes.
The Starlink satellites were not impacted, and the mission was considered successful — but the booster was a total loss.
The booster had launched three Starlink missions, GOES-U, and Maxar 3. It was only the first-stage booster’s fifth flight. To date, SpaceX has successfully flown a booster 26 times.
In a statement Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration said it was “aware of the anomaly that occurred during the SpaceX Starlink 12-20 mission.”
“The event involved the loss of the Falcon 9 first stage booster following a successful drone ship landing at sea,” the FAA said. “The FAA determined the event happened during licensed activities and declared it a mishap. SpaceX is required to perform a mishap investigation and submit the final report to the FAA.”
The turnaround was quick. The FAA approved SpaceX to continue operations on Tuesday.
Incidents involving SpaceX rockets
This isn’t the first time a SpaceX Falcon 9 experienced a mishap during landing. In August 2024, the Starlink 8-6 mission ended with the booster catching fire on the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship.
When the drone ship returned to Port Canaveral, the rocket’s nine engines were recognizable.
Other SpaceX rockets have also been involved in accidents, including on Thursday when another Starship rocket disintegrated in a fiery high-altitude spectacle. The rocket broke up during its eighth uncrewed flight test, sending debris through the sky and temporarily affecting flights at Miami-area airports.
It was SpaceX’s second such setback since January. The previous Starship demonstration on Jan. 16 ended in an explosion after the Starship vehicle was lost during its suborbital flight.
Contributing: Rick Neale, FLORIDA TODAY; James Powel and Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY