Bad day: Falcon 9 crashes upon landing after a record 23 flights, Polaris Dawn postponed

SpaceX had a busy morning today. It planned a historic crewed mission, Polaris Dawn, and two back-to-back Starlink launches from Florida and California. Things didn’t go as planned, though.

First, SpaceX was forced to postpone the Polaris Dawn mission due to bad weather in an ocean area where the Crew Dragon capsule could safely land in case of an in-flight abort situation. Even though there was a backup launch window tomorrow, it seems the weather won’t improve, and SpaceX has decided to postpone today's and tomorrow's launch opportunities. New launch windows will be announced later.

Then, it was a turn for the Starlink mission launching from Florida, carrying 21 satellites (including 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities) for SpaceX’s eponymous constellation. The Falcon 9 booster started its 23rd mission, becoming a record holder for the booster with the most flights.

However, even though the booster completed a successful ascent and stage separation, it was its last mission. The spacecraft landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean before the stage tipped over and exploded.

The live images of a burning Falcon 9 were cut short just a few seconds after the stage engulfed in fire, and the live stream ended shortly afterward, with SpaceX later confirming on X that the second stage successfully delivered the Starlink satellites on its intended orbit.

Subsequently, SpaceX announced that the third planned flight—Starlink launch from California—was also scrubbed to give the team time to review booster landing data from the previous launch.

The last time SpaceX lost a flight-proven booster was on Christmas Day last year. However, it happened during the droneship’s trip back to port when the booster tipped over due to high winds and waves.

The last Falcon 9 booster landing failure was in February 2021, when the first stage missed the drone ship because of an engine shutdown caused by a worn-out engine cover that burned through.

Wednesday was a rare day full of misery for SpaceX, given its track record. However, it is far from being as bad of a situation as SpaceX’s competitor Boeing found itself in. Its crewed capsule, Starliner, will return from the ISS empty-seated due to thruster issues. The backup rideshare to Earth for NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams? SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.