SpaceX cleared for NASA Crew-12 launch after Falcon 9 review

NASA and SpaceX are gearing up for the Crew-12 astronaut mission after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cleared the Falcon 9 rocket to fly next week. The launch is now scheduled for 6:01am EST (1101 GMT) on Wednesday, February 11, from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The FAA’s approval comes after a four-day grounding triggered by an issue with the rocket’s upper stage during a Starlink satellite launch on February 2. While the 25 satellites reached low Earth orbit as planned, the upper stage failed to perform a deorbit burn, causing the rocket body to fall back to Earth uncontrolled.

This marked the fourth Falcon 9 upper-stage incident in 19 months, though previous investigations had delayed launches for up to two weeks.

In a Friday update, the FAA confirmed it accepted SpaceX’s findings. “The final mishap report cites the probable root cause as the Falcon 9 stage 2 engine failing to ignite before the deorbit burn,” the agency said.

SpaceX also implemented technical and organisational measures to prevent a repeat. With the review complete, Falcon 9 is now authorised to return to flight.

The Crew-12 mission will carry four astronauts, NASA’s Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, and European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, to the International Space Station (ISS) for approximately nine months.

Launching aboard the Crew Dragon capsule Freedom, the quartet will restore the ISS to its standard seven-person crew. The station has operated with only three astronauts, one American and two Russians, since January 15, following the early departure of the Crew-11 team.

Crew-11’s early return marked the first-ever medical evacuation from the ISS. NASA has not disclosed the astronaut’s identity or medical details due to privacy concerns. If Crew-12 launches as planned, the astronauts’ arrival will resume full staffing and support ongoing research and maintenance aboard the orbiting laboratory.