The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has officially grounded the Starship V3 rocket. This decision was made five days after the rocket's debut flight. The regulator classified the launch on May 22 as an "incident" and demanded a thorough investigation into the event. This is reported by Ixbt.com .
According to the FAA statement, flights of the Starship-Super Heavy complex can only resume after it is confirmed that all systems and processes pose no threat to public safety. Although the regulator suspended the flight, the 12th suborbital flight within the Starship program was considered successful in many respects.
During the flight, the Ship vessel carried 20 Starlink satellite mockups into space for the first time, along with two real devices equipped with special cameras to monitor the state of the heat shield. Additionally, the upper stage withstood extreme loads during atmospheric re-entry and performed a soft landing in the Indian Ocean.
The main problem arose with the first stage, the Super Heavy booster. The giant booster was supposed to perform a controlled soft landing in the Gulf of Mexico, but the final engine burn for braking did not occur as expected. As a result, the stage hit the water with a hard impact, which triggered the intervention of aviation authorities.
In accordance with established regulations, SpaceX will conduct an internal investigation to determine the causes of the accident. The entire process will be overseen by FAA specialists, who must approve the final report and corrective measures. No specific timeline for the investigation has been announced yet.
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