SpaceX Suspends Falcon 9 Launches After Second Stage Deorbit Failure

HAWTHORNE, Calif. — SpaceX has suspended flight operations for its Falcon 9 rocket following an anomaly with the launch vehicle’s second stage during a Feb. 2, 2026, mission from California. While the primary mission—deploying 25 Starlink satellites—was successful, the upper stage failed to execute its critical deorbit burn, leaving the vehicle to linger in orbit before an uncontrolled reentry.

The incident occurred shortly after the Feb. 2, 2026, launch of the Starlink 17-32 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base. According to a statement released by the company, the second stage “experienced an off-nominal condition during preparation for the deorbit burn.”

The company claimed that the stage’s safety systems functioned as intended to “passivate” the vehicle—essentially venting remaining pressure and propellant to prevent an explosion—but the inability to steer the stage into a designated ocean disposal zone has triggered a mandatory grounding.

“Teams are reviewing data to determine root cause and corrective actions before returning to flight,” SpaceX said in a statement released on the social media platform X.

A Recurring Technical Challenge

The Feb. 2, 2026, mishap marks the latest in a series of technical struggles involving the Falcon 9’s upper stage, a component that, unlike the rocket’s reusable first-stage booster, is expendable and built to burn up in the atmosphere after each flight.

This is the third significant upper-stage anomaly in less than two years for the launch system, which is otherwise widely regarded as the most reliable in history.

• July 11, 2024: A liquid oxygen leak developed during the Starlink 9-3 mission, preventing the second stage from completing its orbital insertion burn. The failure stranded 20 Starlink satellites in a dangerously low orbit, where they subsequently re-entered and burned up. The fleet was grounded for 15 days.
• Sept. 28, 2024: Following the successful launch of the Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station, the second stage suffered an off-nominal deorbit burn. While the crew was delivered safely, the stage landed outside its targeted safety box in the Pacific Ocean, prompting another brief grounding and investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

In each previous instance, SpaceX claimed to have identified the root cause—ranging from cracked sense lines to sensor issues—and implemented hardware fixes or software changes to resolve the defect. The recurrence of upper-stage control issues, however, suggests persistent challenges with the hardware responsible for the final phase of the mission: disposal.

The Human Spaceflight Bottleneck

The grounding of the Falcon 9 carries outsized implications for access to space in the United States. As of Feb. 4, 2026, the Falcon 9 remains the only fully operational, human-rated launch system certified for NASA crew rotation missions from U.S. soil.

It is vital to distinguish between the components involved in the Feb. 2 failure and those that carry astronauts. The Falcon 9 second stage is the machinery that pushes the payload from the edge of space into orbit. It does not return to Earth intact. The Crew Dragon spacecraft, which carries astronauts, sits atop this stage but operates with independent life support, propulsion, and abort systems capable of separating the crew from the rocket in an emergency.

Despite this separation of systems, NASA safety protocols typically require a thorough investigation of any launch vehicle anomaly before clearing it to carry human passengers. With the Boeing Starliner program still facing operational hurdles and the Orion spacecraft dedicated to lunar missions via the SLS rocket, the U.S. relies entirely on the Falcon 9 for transport to the International Space Station.

SpaceX has not provided a timeline for a return to flight. The U.S. Space Force has cataloged the derelict stage from the Feb. 2 launch as Object 67673. Due to the low altitude of the failure, the stage is expected to re-enter the atmosphere and disintegrate naturally within days, though the precise location of debris impact remains uncontrolled.