SpaceX joins Blue Origin as the only space exploration organizations to successfully land a rocket intact after it had been launched.
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This is not a small projectile that could have been maneuvered easily but a massive 15-story booster. Re-using the first stage saves the company a portion of the cost per launch, which would otherwise have been needed to build another first stage.
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Of course, all of Elon Musk’s Falcon 9 tweets were huge hits with his followers, all receiving likes and retweets in the thousands. “It’s a revolutionary moment”, Musk told the press after the landing.
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“I think we’ll probably keep this one on the ground”, Musk said, according to The Verge, “just [because] it’s kind of unique, it’s the first one we’ve brought back”.
What’s significant is that this was a useful mission, Musk noted, not merely a practice flight.
SpaceX employees broke into cheers and chants, some of them jumping up and down, following the smooth touchdown nine minutes after liftoff.
The landing is a milestone for the company; earlier attempts to land on a barge at sea didn’t go as well.
Landing a booster isn’t just a fancy trick for billionaire Mr. Musk. Be sure to watch the full launch video-it’s glorious and historic. “I can’t quite believe it”. Falcon 9’s accomplishment is arguably more significant, though, because it was successfully recovered after traveling farther and faster than any other rocket in history.
A crane steadies the SpaceX Falcon 9 booster rocket as it rests on a landing zone near the Atlantic Ocean in Cape Canaveral, Florida, December 22, 2015. The previous attempt in June had met with failure, as the rocket exploded two minutes after lifting off due to a strut breaking from the force of the rocket’s acceleration. SpaceX commentators called it “incredibly exciting” and were visibly moved by the feat.
The grid fins, located near the top of the rocket help steer it. As it nears the landing site, engineers light the engines once more to help guide it, while the landing legs are deployed. That rocket, though, had been used for a suborbital flight.
Musk also said in November that SpaceX flights had achieved a much tougher objective of reaching orbit.
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Those savings could be passed on to the companies hitching rides on those rockets, like those making weather and communications satellites – if it doesn’t cost too much to get the rockets up and running again.
