The landing was slated to be the most hard that SpaceX had attempted thus far with Falcon9 descending through the atmosphere “fast and hot” and the implementation of a “new, experimental landing pattern”, according to Gizmodo.
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SpaceX now has a rapidly filling hanger of 4 pre-flown Falcon-9 rocket first stages which founder Elon Musk says could trim satellite launch costs by around 30 per cent. It seems as if Cape Canaveral marked the beginning of the company’s streak. “To this end, SpaceX is a leading participant in NASA’s Commercial Crew program to develop the technologies and systems necessary for human carriage to the International Space Station”. SpaceX wants to master the landing of the rocket in order to start developing the next stage of the project, the Mars mission.
We could very well be writing notes like “with love from Earth”, when SpaceX starts its payload delivery service in 2018. The huge pressures involved cloud the view for a moment, but then it clears and you can see lines of clouds over the water, then -quite suddenly, it seems-the drone ship appears, and the booster burns again in the last few seconds to slow for landing. This would mark the third time that the company has managed to successfully execute landing at sea, and its fourth time in overall successful landings. They’ve now landed the first stages of their two-stage-to-orbit Falcon 9 rockets four times after use.
By December 2015 his Falcon rocket came back safely to a landing pad near where it had launched from Florida, and a month ago a little Dragon came back from ISS, plopping into the ocean under three parachutes, carrying over a ton of medical experiments to be analyzed on earth. Out of its many accomplishments, it is the first and only private company to return a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit. “SpaceX offers competitive pricing for its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch services”, read the website.
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If there’s one thing that’s holding us back when it comes to space exploration, it’s money, and reusable rockets – like the one SpaceX landed so stunningly over the weekend – can save us a whole lot of it.
