SpaceX issued the following statement regarding the mishap on the Falcon 9 upper stage that occurred during last night's Starlink 9-3 mission: pic.twitter.com/PRiLPBTXLi

— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) July 12, 2024

I can obviously understand the need for an investigation, and if SpaceX wants to do it with the FAA, that’s fine, but the FAA should have no say in when it flies again; that would be them doing mission assurance, which is not part of their charter. NASA, Jared Isaacman, or any of SpaceX’s other customers can decide when and whether they trust the vehicle, but FAA advisement should be just that. There was no public danger from this event (other than potential Starlink debris falling to earth), or reason to think there would be from any future similar failure.

Blue Origin and ULA (and they may soon be the same company) are pretty clearly threatened by SpaceX.

On the other hand, there have never been launch operations at this scale, anywhere. SpaceX should be getting on to sea launch as soon as possible, particularly given the much greater flexibility of orbital destinations this will give them.

[Update a while later]

More from Stephen Clark.

[Tuesday-afternoon update]

More from Jeff Foust. I was amused at this: “Ariane 6 is an answer to their needs. We’ll go through the inaugural launch, we’ll serve those customers, and we will continue to innovate.”

“Continue” to innovate? I’m still waiting for them to start.

[Bumped]

[Update a few minutes later]

Meanwhile, in French Guiana:

Just wow!#Ariane6 pic.twitter.com/r1tCtgWAFe

— Deutsche Raumfahrtagentur (@DLR_SpaceAgency) July 9, 2024