SpaceX Starship launches are on hold after the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that last week's hourlong test flight resulted in a mishap involving the mega rocket's first-stage booster.

FAA Orders Booster Mishap Investigation

The agency said in a press release that it ordered SpaceX to investigate why the Super Heavy booster failed during its return after Friday's launch from Texas. Minutes after liftoff, the booster separated as planned, but its engines failed during descent toward Earth. Instead of making a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, it came down hard. The FAA said there were no reports of injuries or damage to public property.

The Starship spacecraft itself continued around the world, released 20 mock satellites and completed its mission with a fiery splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The FAA said it will oversee the company-led investigation and must approve SpaceX's final report and corrective actions before another Starship launch can occur.

Benzinga reached out to SpaceX for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Starship Remains Critical To SpaceX Plans

The agency clarified that accident investigations are meant to determine the cause of a failure and ensure similar issues do not threaten public safety during future launches.

Starship is central to CEO Elon Musk's plan to expand SpaceX's spaceflight capacity and eventually send humans to Mars. NASA also plans to use a modified Starship to land astronauts on the moon under its Artemis program.

TechCrunch reported that SpaceX made major changes for the third version of Starship, including booster design tweaks, new third-generation Raptor engines and upgrades to the spacecraft itself. The company hoped those changes would make Starship more reliable after 11 prior test flights.

SpaceX Wins Major Defense Contract

Reusable rockets are central to lowering the cost of sending heavy payloads to space. SpaceX has told investors in its IPO filing that reliable, reusable Starship flights are critical to expanding Starlink, its largest revenue source and currently its only profitable business.

The setback comes days after the FAA cleared Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket to return to flight following a monthlong grounding tied to an April launch failure.

SpaceX also won a $2.29 billion firm, fixed-price Space Force contract on Wednesday to build the Space Data Network Backbone, a next-generation military satellite communications network.

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