VideoX President Anticipates November Return to Flight

PARIS — SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said Sept. 13 that Falcon 9 could return to flight this year, although SpaceX has yet to determine what caused the Sept. 1 explosion. "We're anticipating getting back to flight, being down for about three months, so getting back to flight November, the November timeframe," Shotwell said during a launch service providers panel discussion at the World Satellite Business Week Conference here.

Falcon 9 exploded Shotwell said during a launch service providers panel discussion on its Cape Canaveral launch pad while the rocket was being loaded with liquid oxygen in preparation for a static fire test SpaceX routinely conducts in the lead up to a launch — in this case, a Sept. 3 launch of the Amos-6 communications satellite. The explosion destroyed Falcon 9 and it's satellite payload and damaged the launch pad.

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Brian Berger is the Editor-in-Chief of SpaceNews, a bi-weekly space industry news magazine, and SpaceNews.com. He joined SpaceNews covering NASA in 1998 and was named Senior Staff Writer in 2004 before becoming Deputy Editor in 2008. Brian's reporting on NASA's 2003 Columbia space shuttle accident and received the Communications Award from the National Space Club Huntsville Chapter in 2019. Brian received a bachelor's degree in magazine production and editing from Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.