SpaceX pauses Falcon 9 launches to investigate Crew-9 mission issue

SpaceX has paused all Falcon 9 launches to investigate an issue that occurred during the Crew-9 mission on September 28. The rocket's second stage experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn, landing outside the intended area in the ocean. Despite the issue, the Crew-9 mission successfully launched NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the International Space Station. The Falcon 9's first stage landed successfully, and the Crew Dragon capsule is on track for its arrival. This incident follows a previous upper-stage issue in July, which resulted in lost satellites. SpaceX had resumed launches quickly after that, but the current pause will last until the root cause of the latest problem is understood.