- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
- Alcaraz, Sinner breeze into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Bagnaia wins Japan MotoGP sprint to cut Martin's lead
- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket grounded pending mishap investigation
SpaceX's stalwart Falcon 9 rocket has been grounded while the Federal Aviation Administration investigates why its first-stage booster tipped over and exploded while attempting to land after its latest launch, the agency announced Wednesday.
The rare failure came after the rocket sent the latest batch of 21 Starlink internet satellites into orbit during an early morning launch.
A webcast from Elon Musk's company showed the first stage, which normally fires its thrusters to achieve a precise upright landing, tilting and blowing up as it descended onto a droneship off the Florida coast.
Although landing the booster is a secondary objective, and no lives or public property were at risk, the reusability of the entire rocket system is crucial to SpaceX's business model.
It snapped a more than three-year streak of hundreds of successful booster landings.
"An investigation is designed to further enhance public safety, determine the root cause of the event, and identify corrective actions to avoid it from happening again," the FAA said in a statement.
"A return to flight of the Falcon 9 booster rocket is based on the FAA determining that any system, process, or procedure related to the anomaly does not affect public safety," it added.
Falcon 9 is the workhorse of SpaceX's fleet, trusted by the US government and private industry to propel satellites and astronauts into orbit.
It was last grounded for around two weeks in July when its second stage engine experienced an anomaly that prevented it from deploying another batch of Starlink satellites at the correct altitude, leading them to burn up on re-entry through Earth's atmosphere.
The latest setback could delay the next scheduled launch attempt for Polaris Dawn, a multi-day orbital mission organized by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman that aims to conduct the first spacewalks by an all-civilian crew.
The Polaris Dawn launch has already been postponed twice this week, first due to a technical issue with the ground-based rocket tower and then because of forecasted weather conditions at the planned splashdown site.
R.J.Fidalgo--PC