SpaceX Falcon Heavy Core Booster Falls Overboard in 10-foot Seas On Way to Port Canaveral

booster began to shift and ultimately was unable to remain upright

ABOVE HIGHLIGHTS: On Thursday, April 11 at 6:35 p.m. EDT, Falcon Heavy launched the Arabsat-6A satellite from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

BREVARD COUNTY • PORT CANAVERAL, FLORIDA (theverge.com) – SpaceX successfully landed the center core of its Falcon Heavy rocket on a drone ship last week, but the vehicle accidentally fell into the ocean while in transit to the Florida coast. The company blamed the loss on choppy seas.

“Over the weekend, due to rough sea conditions, SpaceX’s recovery team was unable to secure the center core booster for its return trip to Port Canaveral,” SpaceX said in a statement to The Verge.

“As conditions worsened with eight to ten-foot swells, the booster began to shift and ultimately was unable to remain upright. While we had hoped to bring the booster back intact, the safety of our team always takes precedence. We do not expect future missions to be impacted.”

The center core is a modified Falcon 9 booster — one of three that make up the Falcon Heavy rocket.

This particular core flew on Thursday, April 11th, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, during the second flight of the Falcon Heavy.

The flight marked the first time the rocket had flown in over a year since its debut in February 2018, as well as the first commercial mission for the vehicle.

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