Supported by
Recycled Rockets Could Drop Costs, Speed Space Travel
SpaceX did something on Thursday that really hadn’t been done before: launch a cheaper, partially-used rocket into orbit.
That may be a stride toward slashing the price tag of sending payload to space. For Elon Musk, the company’s billionaire founder, successfully flying reusable rockets over and over is a crucial step toward his dream of sending people to Mars.
The rocket, carrying a telecommunications satellite, launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
What’s a ‘Pre-Flown’ Rocket?
transcript
SpaceX Rocket Lands Successfully on Ship
After multiple failed attempts, SpaceX successfully landed a rocket on a drone ship.
na
The first stage, or booster, is the big segment of the Falcon 9 rocket with nine engines that get the rocket off the ground. The booster used Thursday was the same one that lifted cargo for NASA to the International Space Station in April 2016 and then landed on a floating platform in the Atlantic.
It was SpaceX’s second successful booster landing, and the first on the ocean platform. (The previous December, a booster had successfully turned around and landed on land at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.)
Advertisement