SpaceX is set to resume Falcon 9 launches on Monday evening, following a weeklong pause after a booster caught fire and exploded post-landing. The company has two missions lined up—one from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, and the other from Cape Canaveral, Florida—if weather conditions allow.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket first stage booster, tail number B1086, lands on the droneship, ‘Just Read the Instructions,’ amid the Starlink 12-20 mission on Sunday, March 2, 2025. Shortly after touchdown, a fire broke out in the engine section and caused the loss of the booster. Image: SpaceX via livestream
Booster Explosion: What Happened?
The most recent Falcon 9 launch occurred on March 2, carrying 21 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. However, the mission’s first-stage booster (B1086) was lost after landing on the droneship "Just Read the Instructions" due to a post-landing fire.
Speaking at a Crew-10 flight readiness conference, SpaceX’s Bill Gerstenmaier, Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability, provided insight into the incident. He explained that approximately 85 seconds into the launch, a fuel leak in the booster’s first stage caused kerosene (RP-1) to spray onto a hot engine component, where it vaporized.
During ascent, there wasn’t enough oxygen inside the engine bay for the fuel to ignite. However, 45 seconds after landing, as oxygen seeped into the compartment, the leaked fuel caught fire.
“The fire was contained within the engine compartment,” Gerstenmaier stated. “Even if this had occurred during ascent, our design ensures damage would be limited to a single engine, allowing the mission to continue.”
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 crew members participate in a countdown dress rehearsal at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, March 9, 2025, to prepare for their upcoming launch. NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov will launch to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket. Image: SpaceX
Investigations and NASA’s Independent Review
Determining the root cause of the fuel leak has proven difficult. Gerstenmaier noted that once the droneship returned to Port Canaveral, engineers removed the engine section for further analysis.
NASA, overseeing upcoming Falcon 9 launches for Crew-10 and the SPHEREx/PUNCH science missions, conducted an independent review. Denton Gibson, NASA’s Launch Director for the Launch Services Program (LSP), emphasized that NASA evaluates SpaceX incidents separately to ensure their missions face no added risk.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also reviewed the failure, briefly grounding Falcon 9 flights before accepting SpaceX’s investigation findings and clearing the rocket for operational flights on March 4.
Upper Stage Freezing Incident and Orbital Debris Concerns
In addition to the booster explosion, SpaceX encountered an upper stage issue on February 1 during the Starlink 11-4 mission. Gerstenmaier revealed that a small oxygen leak in the upper stage caused a thrust vector control line to freeze, disrupting Falcon 9’s attitude control.
Although the Starlink satellites were deployed correctly, the stage failed to align properly for a deorbit burn, leading to uncontrolled reentry over Poland last week. The FAA did not ground Falcon 9 over this issue, and no injuries were reported from falling debris.
Precautionary Measures and Future Flights
SpaceX has since tightened pre-launch checks, modified abort limits to detect oxygen leaks before ignition, and tested fixes during a static fire test on March 9 ahead of Crew-10’s launch.
The company had previously faced an upper stage failure after launching Crew-9 in September 2024, which temporarily grounded Falcon 9 at the time. However, SpaceX insists these issues do not impact shorter-duration Crew Dragon missions and expects a smooth return to flight this week.
With the Crew-10 mission to the ISS and the NASA SPHEREx/PUNCH rideshare mission set to launch soon, all eyes are on Monday night’s Falcon 9 liftoff, marking SpaceX’s return after a challenging week of investigations and system improvements.
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