The FAA grounded SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket to investigate a mishap that occurred on September 28 when the second-stage booster rocket landed outside its designated zone on its return to Earth.
"The SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle is authorized to return to flight only for the planned Hera mission scheduled to launch on Oct. 7 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida ... The FAA has determined that the absence of a second stage reentry for this mission adequately mitigates the primary risk to the public in the event of a reoccurrence of the mishap experienced with the Crew-9 mission," the FAA said.
The FAA gave no time line for when it is expected to authorize SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket to return to regular operations.
In August, the FAA briefly grounded SpaceX's reusable Falcon 9 rocket after the first-stage rocket of the spacecraft failed to land upright on a drone ship at sea.
Hera is a space mission of the European Space Agency whose objective is to probe the kinetic impact method to deflect a possible asteroid that may be heading toward Earth.