SpaceX Starlink 188 launch and Falcon 9 first stage failed landing, 28 August 2024

A SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle launched 21 Starlink satellites (Starlink-188 / Starlink 8-6) to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, on 28 August 2024, at 07:48 UTC (03:48 EDT). Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage failed to land on the “A Shortfall of Gravitas” droneship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Falcon 9’s first stage (B1062) previously supported 22 missions: GPS III SV04, GPS III SV05, Inspiration4, Ax-1, Nilesat 301, OneWeb 17, ARABSAT BADR-8 and 15 Starlink missions.
Credit: SpaceX

[stuartgray]

We went from "SpaceX will NEVER land a booster" to being surprised when one fails to land correctly.

[BukuiZhao]

So weird nowadays seeing a failed landing of F9… like that was a very common thing back in the 2016s.
Nonetheless, having one single booster re-fly 23 times is an amazing achievement on its own, let alone anything else.

[eaglemotion]

But 23 launches on one booster is just amazing, I mean a few years ago we thought they would maybe get to the 10 on one booster...

[chrismoule]

Well I was not expecting that to happen.

[laurensweyn]

Now I'm no engineer, but I do believe it's not supposed to be on fire.

[somejoe]

Back right leg looks like it had a hydraulic leak. That not only caused the leg to collapse, allowing the booster to tip over, but the leaking hydraulic fluid also caught fire, that caused the fireball under and to the right of the booster. You can see the large amount of black smoke being produced by the fire -- that's not from RP-1, it burns cleaner.

[victorkrawchuk]

To me it seemed like a slightly tilted landing, not exactly vertical, with one of the legs collapsing as a result. Still I couldn't believe it when B1062 started tipping over. The video cut off just after it hit the deck, you couldn't tell if it blew up or just ended up on its side, but I have to imagine it surely blew up. This booster spent about 62 days in refurbishment since its previous mission, where previously I think its record was 21 days between missions. Perhaps there was an issue which caused them to spend so much time on it before this launch?

[chrislaw]

23 runs as a booster before failure?🎉 outstanding!

[PilotsError]

Alright who said "Break a leg" before lift-off?

[Zoomer_]

The booster is like "Well, another successful landing, getting so Huh, why's the water rushing up at me.... not like this."

[michaelwestfall]

The attempt to stick the landing may have the overall performance still gets the Gold!

[rahasia]

The combustion process does not stop at the usual time, even the booster engine still has thrust which causes the rocket to tilt

[johnhunt]

After 23 flights I think they got their money's worth out of that booster

[youuuuuuuuuuutube]

23 successful landings and 1 failed? That's a 95.83% success rate, amazing feat!

[NapierNimbus]

I marvel at technical achievement to even safely return and land the booster, this reminds of the great technical difficulty

[puddlesjumper]

It looks like the rocket motor didn't shut off and it melted the leg actuator and caused it to topple over. That's the second one they've lost on the drone ship. The last one was due to heavy seas and the Octograbber not securing it properly.

[randallmacdonald]

Youtube lets me replay at 1/4 speed and I can single stop through each frame of the video. At 1:51, the landing burn actually completes. Just at the start of 1:52, the engines cut off (flames go dark) except for residual exhaust gases. Then, still in 1:52, there is a fire flash behind an engine bell then the next frame shows the fireball developing. From this, I conclude that this Falcon 9 did, in fact, stick the landing but something gave way and damaged an engine's fuel plumbing somehow. Why that something gave way, we'll have to wait for the analysis.

[montiraruba]

I wonder if having four landing legs be better? I am thinking about an office rolling chair with 3 legs compared with an office rolling chair with 4 legs. The 4 legged chair will be less likely tip over.

[reknas]

Why was there an engine still burning???? Upon touchdown all engines are Off.

[tequila]

Looks like engines do not cut off quickly enough but still 23 is great number