This was a landing failure of a booster after returning from it’s mission. Boosters have always been expendable one-and-done parts that would be jettisoned to burn up in the atmosphere. Boeing currently has no roadmap for reusable boosters, meanwhile SpaceX has launched this particular booster 23 times! These booster failures are extremely rare and any booster recovery for any space agency/company that isn’t SpaceX is notable. SpaceX is the only agency/company that has recovered and reused a booster, and they’ve done so hundreds of times.
Note there was 1 launch failure this year which was their first launch failure since 2016, almost 10 years with hundreds of launches between failures.
The last booster to be lost on a landing was in 2023 and not even a booster failure but simply rough seas:
First booster to fly for the 19th time. Despite the landing being initially successful, the booster later tipped over during transit due to rough seas, high winds and waves, the stage was unable to be secured to the deck for recovery and later tipped over and was destroyed in transit. SpaceX has already equipped newer Falcon boosters with upgraded landing legs that have the capability to self-level and mitigate this type of issue.
So in short, yes it is bad that a booster which shouldn’t have been lost was. But in terms of crew safety this isn’t a huge concern. SpaceX simply has an incredible track record for successful missions and has become the “safe” bet in aerospace
This was a landing failure of a booster after returning from it’s mission. Boosters have always been expendable one-and-done parts that would be jettisoned to burn up in the atmosphere. Boeing currently has no roadmap for reusable boosters, meanwhile SpaceX has launched this particular booster 23 times! These booster failures are extremely rare and any booster recovery for any space agency/company that isn’t SpaceX is notable. SpaceX is the only agency/company that has recovered and reused a booster, and they’ve done so hundreds of times.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Falcon_9_and_Falcon_Heavy_launches#Launch_outcomes
Note there was 1 launch failure this year which was their first launch failure since 2016, almost 10 years with hundreds of launches between failures.
The last booster to be lost on a landing was in 2023 and not even a booster failure but simply rough seas:
So in short, yes it is bad that a booster which shouldn’t have been lost was. But in terms of crew safety this isn’t a huge concern. SpaceX simply has an incredible track record for successful missions and has become the “safe” bet in aerospace