The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved the Falcon 9 launch of the European Space Agency’s Hera asteroid mission, set for no earlier than Oct. 7 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

This approval follows the grounding of the Falcon 9 due to an anomaly during the Crew-9 launch on Sept. 28.

The FAA determined that the Hera mission poses reduced risk since the second stage will not reenter the atmosphere.

However, the agency has not cleared other Falcon 9 missions involving a deorbit burn until the investigation into the Crew-9 mishap is complete.

Preparations for the Hera launch are ongoing, with the vehicle expected to roll out to the pad following a launch readiness review, Space News has reported.

The launch window is constrained by weather, with only a 15% chance of acceptable conditions due to the approach of Hurricane Milton, which is expected to delay NASA’s Europa Clipper launch and other space operations, including the return of Crew-8 from the International Space Station.

The Hera mission aims to study the asteroid Didymos and its moon Dimorphos, following NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission.

Written by B.C. Begley