SpaceX Rocket Makes a Historical Vertical Landing

Musk has said the ability to return his rockets to Earth so they can be refurbished and reflown would slash his company’s operating costs in the burgeoning and highly competitive private space launch industry.

The mission’s primary objective was to deploy 11 small satellites into low orbit.

SpaceX is back! The space corporation just managed the historic feat of launching a rocket and then sending it back down to Earth to stick the landing, perfectly vertical and only a few miles from where it took off. Once it leaves Earth’s atmosphere, the first stage separates after its nine rockets burn for around 162 seconds with 1.5 million pounds of thrust.

Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla, suggested that SpaceX had already achieved what Blue Origin did that day, even though the SpaceX flights he was referring to never come close to reaching outer space.

However, based on what Elon Musk said in a press call after the landing, this particular rocket will probably not be making another trip to space.

The landing leg tooling was designed by Leading Edge, Johnson said, and is its most significant contribution to SpaceX. No one has ever brought a booster, an orbital-class booster, back intact.

Live streams from SpaceX’s headquarters showed employees breaking into cheers as the rocket touched down at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. 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. This success could open up the possibility of reusing rocket parts – a process that could make spaceflight significantly more affordable.

Blue Origin, another billionaire’s rocket company, successfully landed a booster last month in West Texas.

Before Monday’s launch, weather and some other issues delayed the launch and lading attempt, but SpaceX launched Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Monday evening without a hitch.