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full screen A Falcon rocket with a Turkish satellite on board is launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Monday, just a few days before another Falcon rocket crashes. Photo: John Raoux/AP/TT
Space company Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket has been grounded after a failed attempt to place satellites in orbit around the Earth.
As a result, 20 satellites have entered far too low an orbit and will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up, AP reports. It is the first time in nearly a decade that the Falcon 9 has suffered an accident.
The United States’ aviation authority, the FAA, is now demanding an investigation and has halted all launches of the rocket model until the problem is resolved. Space X said on Friday that the accident was caused by a liquid oxygen leak.
The failure raises questions about how long the Falcon 9 will be grounded. At the end of July, a billionaire was supposed to travel on the rocket to make the first private spacewalk.
The rocket also has a key role in NASA’s manned spaceflight program. As recently as January, Swedish astronaut Marcus Wandt traveled with Falcon 9 to the International Space Station ISS.
Space X, which is led by the tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, is also behind the Starlink network, which with thousands of satellites provides people with internet connection in the most remote places in the world.