WASHINGTON, July 12 An engine malfunction led to the first accident in seven years during the launch of Falcon 9 rockets, according to a message from American entrepreneur Elon Musk’s company SpaceX.
According to SpaceX, the next batch of Starlink Internet access satellites could not be launched into the intended orbit due to a failed second-stage engine.
«As a result, the Starlink satellites ended up in an orbit lower than expected. SpaceX has so far established contact with five of them and is trying to raise their orbit using their own ion engines,» the company reported on the social network X.
Musk himself suggested that the maneuver would not work and assumed that the satellites would burn up in the atmosphere. The media write that this is the first failure of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle in more than seven years.