SpaceX Makes History: Falcon 9 Rocket – Successfully Launched and Landed

Good_Morning_From_the_International_Space_StationSpaceX made history at Cape Canaveral, Florida last night, December 21, when it successfully landed an intact Falcon 9 rocket upright on solid ground after traveling into space and back. Falcon 9 landing was a milestone moment for SpaceX and CEO Elon Musk. The ability to recycle the spacecrafts marks a big step toward making space travel cheaper.

It’s also the company’s first flight since June, when its unmanned spacecraft exploded shortly after liftoff and destroyed the company’s Dragon cargo ship bound for the International Space Station.

After a trouble-free countdown and liftoff at 8:29 p.m. EST today December 22 from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Falcon 9  delivered 11 commercial satellites into low-earth orbit, for the satellite-communications company Orbcomm. The two-stage Falcon 9 separated, the second stage of the rocket with the satellites continued on to orbit and ten minutes after launching, the engines of the the rocket’s first stage reignited to turn it around, back to Cape Canaveral and set down six miles to the south at Landing Zone 1, which is a facility previously used by the Air Force for rocket and missile testing that SpaceX has leased.

‘The Falcon has landed,’ a launch commentator said when the first stage came into view of a camera near the landing site and SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California, erupted in cheers, followed by chants of ‘U.S.A.! U.S.A.!’

Today’s landing was a milestone moment for SpaceX and the billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk. Developing a reliable fleet of reusable rockets will definitely take many years, But it promises to be a game changer for the space industry and will open the heavens to exploration.

SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch Postponed Until Monday

400px-Launch_of_JunoSpaceX Falcon 9 launch, scheduled for Sunday was delayed by one day.

SpaceX delayed the scheduled launch of its 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket, the company said in an official statement.

The Falcon 9 rocket had been scheduled to launch from Complex 40 launch pad, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 8:29 p.m. ET Sunday, but the company announced at 4 p.m. that it would aim for a launch at 8:33 p.m. Monday as they need time “for more analysis”.

An earlier attempt at launching the Falcon 9 on June 28th resulted in an explosion and the rocket broke apart less than two-and-a-half minutes after the liftoff. The crash destroyed the company’s unmanned Dragon cargo ship bound for the International Space Station. Continue reading “SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch Postponed Until Monday”

SpaceX Will Try Next Rocket Landing on Solid Ground

400px-Launch_of_JunoSpaceX is planning to attempt next rocket landing on solid ground at Cape Canaveral instead of on an ocean platform.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX company is hoping to land its next Falcon 9 rocket on the ground at NASA’s Cape Canaveral facility in Florida.

SpaceX has tried several times to land a rocket gently before, but those attempts were made on giant floating platforms in the ocean.

Rival spaceflight company Blue Origin has recently managed to land its own reusable rocket safely on the ground. NASA officials confirmed the terrestrial landing attempt during a press conference last week on the upgraded Kennedy Space Center’s historic launchpad 39A. The site is planned to be refitted to accommodate SpaceX’s much larger Falcon Heavy rocket when it begins launching sometime next year. Continue reading “SpaceX Will Try Next Rocket Landing on Solid Ground”