NASA, SpaceX must maintain focus after astronauts hospitalized, safety panel says

NASA’s safety panel urged the agency and SpaceX to “maintain focus” amid recent mission setbacks, equipment malfunctions and last week’s hospitalization of a crew returning from the International Space Station.At an Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel meeting Thursday, committee member and former astronaut Kent Rominger said NASA and SpaceX must “guard against letting the high pace of operations [cloud] their judgment” and focus on aging equipment, Space News reported.The warning comes a week after four astronauts were hospitalized upon returning to Earth from an eight-month mission on the Crew-8 Dragon, one of them staying overnight for an unspecified “medical issue,” according to officials.It was the latest in a series of recent anomalies for SpaceX.

Its Falcon 9 launch vehicle, which sent the Crew-8 Dragon into space, was grounded three times between July and September for various malfunctions, according to reports.In July, the partially reusable rocket was grounded after experiencing an engine malfunction that an investigation found was caused by an oxygen leak.It was the first failure in more than seven years for the reliable Falcon 9, which is the world’s most active rocket.But Falcon 9 launches were then halted in August when a Falcon 9 booster tipped over during a landing and ignited a large blaze.

The overworked rocket was back to launching Starlink satellites three days later.In September, the Falcon 9 rocket launched a crew to the ISS and on its return, missed its targeted splashdown zone because of a suspected fuel leak.The vehicle was then grounded indefinitely and the Federal Aviation Administration said it is requiring an investigation.“When you look at these recent incidents over the last handful of weeks, it does lead one [to] say that it’s apparent that operating safely requires significant attention to detail as hardware ages and the pace of operations increases,” Rominger said.

“Both NASA and SpaceX need to maintain focus...