It's so rare that it's remarkable: SpaceX's ultra-reliable Falcon 9 rocket ran into a major problem on July 11. From liftoff to first-stage separation, everything went nominally smoothly, but the second stage, which is intended for the payload, suffered an accident. “rapid unplanned dismantling” After re-igniting her engine.
The loss of satellites that were supposed to be put into orbit is not a serious matter, but the situation should be closely analyzed by NASA. In fact, it is SpaceX's Falcon 9s that today have the important mission of launching Crew Dragon capsules responsible for transporting to/from Earth the International Space Station (ISS) crews assigned by the American agency.
SpaceX or nothing
But only SpaceX can do it today across the Atlantic. Boeing and its Starliner capsule have not yet received the necessary qualifications to transport astronauts between Earth and low orbit. Especially since the first “human” test conducted by the American manufacturer, which took place in early June, although it allowed two astronauts to be transported to the edge of the International Space Station, was not painless. Several helium leaks forced the spacecraft to remain at the ISS and its astronauts were stranded on the orbital outpost, despite the originally planned 10-day mission.
Pending analysis and a decision from NASA, the Falcon 9 failure should extend their stay in space, as well as those of the Expedition 71 crew, which began on April 6.
