FAA OKs Falcon 9 Launches; First Mission Set For Saturday Morning

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The familiar rumble of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket has been absent from Space Coast skies the past two weeks — but the Federal Aviation Administration has granted the company permission to return to flight amid its ongoing anomaly investigation.

And SpaceX is already targeting 12:21 a.m. Saturday for its next Falcon 9 mission. The 230-foot rocket will launch 23 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit from pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Thursday night, SpaceX announced the findings of its engineering review, blaming a liquid oxygen leak that developed within the insulation around the upper-stage engine. In tandem, the FAA granted approval for the Falcon 9 to return to flight and announced that "no public safety issues were involved in the anomaly."

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"When a public safety determination request is received, the agency evaluates safety-critical systems, the nature and consequences of the anomaly, the adequacy of existing flight safety analysis, safety organization performance, and environmental factors," an FAA statement said.

"This line cracked due to fatigue caused by high loading from engine vibration and looseness in the clamp that normally constrains the line. Despite the leak, the second stage engine continued to operate through the duration of its first burn, and completed its engine shutdown, where it entered the coast phase of the mission in the intended elliptical parking orbit," the statement said.