SpaceX Dragon heads to ISS to bring back crew; launches paused after booster problem

Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Eleven hours after successfully launching its Crew 9 spacecraft to bring back two stranded astronauts from the International Space Station, SpaceX announced early Sunday future launches have been halted because of a problem with the second stage deorbiting.

At 12:30 a.m. Sunday, the private company posted on X: "After today's successful launch of Crew-9, Falcon 9's second stage was disposed in the ocean as planned, but experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn. As a result, the second stage safely landed in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area. We will resume launching after we better understand root cause."

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