A SpaceX rocket has failed for the first time in nearly a decade, leaving the company's internet satellites in the wrong orbit. The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from California on Thursday night, carrying 20 Starlink satellites. Several minutes into the flight, the upper stage engine malfunctioned.
This image from video provided by SpaceX shows the upper stage engine of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which blasted off from California on Thursday, July 11, 2024. The rocket, carrying 20 Starlink satellites, malfunctioned during the blast, leaving the company’s internet satellites in a precariously low orbit. has failed for the first time in nearly a decade, leaving the company’s internet satellites in an orbit so low that they’re doomed to fall through the atmosphere and burn up.
SpaceX said the satellites will reenter the atmosphere and burn up. There was no mention of when they might come down. More than 6,000 orbiting Starlinks currently provide internet service to customers in some of the most remote corners of the world. It was not known if or how the accident might impact SpaceX’s upcoming crew flights. A billionaire’s spaceflight is scheduled for July 31 from Florida with plans for the first private spacewalk, followed in mid-August by an astronaut flight to the International Space Station for NASA.
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