Following yesterday’s launch of the 16th SpaceX ISS resupply mission, a Block 5 Falcon 9 booster took an unexpected swim.
SpaceX had planned for the rocket’s first stage to touch down at LZ-1 at Cape Canaveral. However, due to a failure of one of the rocket’s grid fins, it instead touched down in the waters off the coast of Florida. Despite having to ditch in the Atlantic, SpaceX founder and CEO, Elon Musk revealed that the booster appeared to be undamaged.
In Tweet following the mishap, Musk explained that a “Grid fin hydraulic pump stalled, so Falcon landed just out to sea.” Later, he followed up the Tweet with two videos, one from aboard the Falcon 9 first stage and one from a tracking position. In the footage aboard the Falon 9, the grid fin on the right can clearly be seen stuck in position.
Engines stabilized rocket spin just in time, enabling an intact landing in water! Ships en route to rescue Falcon. pic.twitter.com/O3h8eCgGJ7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 5, 2018
Tracking shot of Falcon water landing pic.twitter.com/6Hv2aZhLjM
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 5, 2018
Answering a question from a user on the original Tweet, Musk explained that “Some landing systems are not redundant, as landing is considered ground safety critical, but not mission critical.” He continued to explain that moving forward, SpaceX would look to add “a backup pump & lines” to mitigate the potential for failure in the future.
SpaceX had previously stated that they plan to launch Block 5 Falon 9 boosters more than 10 times each. It is still unclear whether the loss of this booster will affect future production goals or the shift of development resources to the provider’s next-generation “Starship” vehicle.
