SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean early Friday after launching a Japanese communications satellite into orbit. Despite the heat, the first stage did not blow up when it landed on a robot barge, named “Of Course I Still Love You”, which floated in the dark off the coast of Florida. This brings SpaceX’s total sea landings to two, following the private spaceflight company’s successful mission in April.
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In traditional Musk fashion during SpaceX launches, he took to Twitter to communicate mission status and ended with a part tongue-in-cheek statement after the Falcon 9 successfully landed, yet again.
SpaceX has just pulled off something that even its founder Elon Musk was not confident about. Aboard is the JCSAT-14 communications satellite…
Musk succinctly tweeted, “Woohoo!”and followed up shortly thereafter with the more elaborative, “Yeah, this was a three engine landing burn, so triple deceleration of last flight”. That means it set its satellite cargo on a path to reach an altitude where the speed of its orbit will match the speed of earth’s rotation, allowing it to “hang” over one place, about 36,000 kilometers above us.
The rocket’s second stage continued flying to deliver the 4,700-kg JCSAT-14 satellite into orbit. After delivering the satellite, the company’s employees gathered to watch the rocket attempt a landing, but they were skeptical.
The launch is scheduled for 10:21 p.m. PST from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, and video of the event will be streamed live.
Musk believes that reusable rockets are the key to reduce launch costs and enable human settlements on Mars someday.
The satellite, owned by Japan-based SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation, will provide TV programming and broadband services in Asia, Russia, Oceania and the Pacific Islands, replacing an older satellite called JCSAT-2A.
This is the eighth major launch operation for the Eastern Range this year.
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Friday’s successful landing marks the third time SpaceX has returned a rocket intact after a mission.
