On March 4, 2021, SpaceX returned to form at Kennedy Space Center, launching 60 Starlink satellites and recovering its Falcon 9 booster on an Atlantic droneship — a quiet triumph made meaningful by the failure that preceded it. Two and a half weeks earlier, a breach of hot gas into an engine cover had silenced one of nine Merlin engines mid-ascent, leaving the first stage without enough reserve thrust to land. The intervening weeks of diagnosis and correction speak to something enduring in the human relationship with complex machines: that failure, when met with patience and rigor, becomes the
SpaceX Falcon 9 Successfully Lands Booster After Previous Failure
One engine out of nine, and suddenly you don't have enough fuel left to slow down
Mark
Why does a single booster landing matter so much? SpaceX lands them all the time.
Mimi
They do now. But that streak of twenty-four successful landings in a row—that's what people were watching. When you break a streak like that, especially in public, it raises questions about whether the system is as reliable as you've claimed.
Mark
So the February failure was a real setback.
Mimi
It was. But more importantly, it was a puzzle. SpaceX had to figure out what went wrong before they could prove they'd fixed it. That's what the March 4 launch was really about—not just landing a booster, but landing one and saying: we know what happened, and it won't happen again.
Mark
The hot gas in the engine cover—that sounds like a small thing.
Mimi
It is small. A small hole. But in a rocket, small things matter enormously. One engine out of nine, and suddenly you don't have enough fuel left to slow down for landing. The mission succeeds, but the hardware is lost.
Mark
And the satellites that deorbited—is that a bigger problem?
Mimi
It's a different problem. Three satellites out of 723 is a very low failure rate. But SpaceX is trying to convince regulators that its constellation is safe and reliable. When satellites don't work as designed, that's noise in the signal they're trying to send.
Mark
What comes next for them?
Mimi
Keep launching, keep landing, keep proving the system works. And wait for the FCC to decide whether they can move satellites lower. That decision will shape what the constellation looks like for the next decade.
Il Polso
- A streak of 24 consecutive successful booster landings had snapped on February 15, exposing a vulnerability in the very hardware SpaceX's reusability model depends on.
- Engineers traced the failure to hot gas penetrating a small gap in an engine cover, shutting down one Merlin engine and leaving the descending booster without enough fuel to brake for landing.
- SpaceX spent two weeks in forensic mode, emerging on March 1 with a diagnosis and a fix ready to be tested in the unforgiving theater of an actual launch.
- The March 4 booster — on its eighth flight — touched down successfully, though viewers saw little more than darkness as SpaceX omitted onboard camera feeds and clouds obscured the Atlantic droneship.
- With 1,205 Starlinks now in orbit but over 60 already deorbited, and an FCC license modification request still unresolved, SpaceX is navigating both technical and regulatory turbulence simultaneously.
On March 4, 2021, SpaceX returned to form at Kennedy Space Center, launching 60 Starlink satellites and recovering its Falcon 9 booster on an Atlantic droneship — a quiet triumph made meaningful by the failure that preceded it. Two and a half weeks earlier, a breach of hot gas into an engine cover had silenced one of nine Merlin engines mid-ascent, leaving the first stage without enough reserve thrust to land. The intervening weeks of diagnosis and correction speak to something enduring in the human relationship with complex machines: that failure, when met with patience and rigor, becomes the architecture of the next success.
SpaceX brought a Falcon 9 booster safely back to Earth on March 4, lifting off from Kennedy Space Center at 3:24 a.m. Eastern with 60 Starlink satellites aboard. The payload reached orbit 65 minutes later, and the first stage touched down on an Atlantic droneship shortly after — a moment that would have been unremarkable had it not followed a very public stumble.
On February 15, SpaceX had attempted the same maneuver and failed, snapping a streak of 24 consecutive successful landings. The diagnosis took until March 1: hot gas had breached a small gap in a protective cover around one of the rocket's nine Merlin engines, forcing a shutdown during ascent. The vehicle flew on with eight engines and delivered its payload, but the lost thrust left the first stage without enough fuel to slow itself for landing. The booster was lost.
The March 4 flight was the answer. The booster — a veteran of eight missions, including Telesat, the final Iridium batch, and five prior Starlink runs — performed as intended. SpaceX's webcast offered little visual drama; onboard cameras were absent and clouds blanketed the Atlantic. But the landing was confirmed.
The recovery brought total Starlink launches to 1,205, though the number carries weight. More than 60 satellites have deorbited, including three from an October deployment that never raised their orbits or became operational. SpaceX disclosed the failures to the FCC in late February, reporting that 720 of its last 723 satellites had functioned correctly, and citing improved factory testing and software updates as the fix.
The FCC filing is part of a broader request to shift portions of the constellation to lower altitudes — a proposal other satellite operators have contested on interference grounds. The commission has yet to rule. SpaceX, meanwhile, presses forward: launching, landing, and working to prove that both can be done reliably.
SpaceX brought a Falcon 9 booster safely back to Earth on March 4, marking a return to form after a high-profile stumble two and a half weeks earlier. The rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A at 3:24 a.m. Eastern, carrying 60 Starlink satellites toward orbit. Sixty-five minutes later, the payload was deployed. Eight and a half minutes after that initial ascent, the first stage touched down on a droneship in the Atlantic—a routine success that would have drawn little attention except for what came before.
On February 15, SpaceX had attempted the same maneuver and failed. The booster never made it to the landing pad. The company's streak of two dozen consecutive successful landings snapped. For a company that had built its reputation on the ability to recover and reuse its most expensive hardware, the failure stung. SpaceX engineers spent the intervening weeks diagnosing what went wrong. By March 1, they had their answer: hot gas had breached a small opening in a protective cover surrounding one of the rocket's nine Merlin engines. The engine shut down during the climb to orbit. The vehicle's design allowed it to continue the mission with eight engines, but the lost thrust meant the first stage didn't have enough power left in the tank to slow itself for landing. The payload made it to orbit. The booster did not.
The March 4 launch offered a chance to prove the problem was solved. The booster that flew that morning was no stranger to the work. It was on its eighth flight, having previously launched a Telesat communications satellite, the final batch of Iridium satellites, and five earlier batches of Starlinks. This time, the landing went as planned. SpaceX's webcast offered little visual confirmation—the company did not include video feeds from cameras mounted on the first stage, a break from past practice. Combined with a thick cloud deck over the Atlantic, viewers saw mostly darkness during the critical minutes of descent. But the booster made it down.
The successful recovery brought the total number of Starlink satellites launched to 1,205. That figure carries an asterisk. More than 60 of those satellites have since deorbited and burned up in the atmosphere, including three that failed to raise their orbits after deployment in October. Those three never became operational. SpaceX acknowledged the problem in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission in late February, revealing that 720 of its last 723 satellites had functioned as designed after release. The company said it had identified the root cause of the failures and implemented fixes: more rigorous factory testing and updated software uploaded to satellites already in orbit.
The FCC filing was part of a larger request from SpaceX to modify its license and move some of its constellation to lower altitudes. Other satellite operators have objected, worried that the denser, lower constellation will interfere with their own systems. SpaceX has pushed back against those concerns, insisting its modified plan poses no threat. The FCC has not yet ruled on the request. For now, SpaceX's focus remains on the immediate work: launching satellites, landing boosters, and proving that the systems it has built can be relied upon to do both.
Citazioni salienti
SpaceX identified and corrected the root cause through improved factory testing and updated software to satellites in orbit, preventing recurrence— SpaceX, in FCC filing
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