Falcon 9 rocket to be grounded longer than expected

The beginning of November will be the earliest SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket can resume launching after a June 28 failure blamed on a deficient structural support brace inside the the vehicle’s second stage, a SpaceX executive said Monday. The next launch will be the 20th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket and the first with up-rated engines operating at higher thrust levels than previous missions, according to Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer. “Obviously, we’ve got a return-to-flight sitting in front of us here coupled with the latest upgrade to the Falcon 9 launch vehicle,” Shotwell said Monday at a conference in California sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. More

(Source: SpaceFlignt Now - Sep 2)