Geoff Brumfiel The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets - like this one set to take the Polaris Dawn crew to orbit. The move by the FAA comes after a Falcon 9 booster rocket fell into the sea as it tried to land on an uncrewed drone ship on Wednesday. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption This was the booster’s 23rd flight, according to the company. In its statement the FAA said that the Falcon 9 would be grounded until the investigation was complete. “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 agency said. This is the second grounding of the Falcon 9 rocket in recent months. The FAA grounded the rocket on July 12, after its second stage failed to relight properly during another Starlink launch. That grounding lasted around two weeks. A similar investigation would mean a hefty delay for Polaris Dawn, which had hoped to launch as early as Friday. The investigation could also have implications for the International Space Station. NASA had hoped to send two astronauts to the station in late September aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. They would join astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who flew in June to the station aboard the Boeing Starliner capsule. Sponsor Message Just last week, NASA determined that problems with the Boeing capsule made it unsafe to use to ferry astronauts back to earth. Williams and Wilmore will rely on the SpaceX capsule arriving next month to return home in early 2025. Facebook