The second stage of a rocket faced a rare and catastrophic failure during the deployment of a batch of internet satellites. It was reported that the rocket sustained a rapid unscheduled disassembly while in orbit, and investigations are underway to determine the cause. Uncertainty remains as to whether the affected satellites can be salvaged. This is the first failure since 2016 for this type of rocket, which had previously enjoyed a streak of over 300 successful missions. The incident is expected to slow down the pace of rocket launches and potentially delay upcoming missions to orbit.
