SpaceX successfully lands its Falcon 9 rocket after orbital launch

SpaceX, which lost a rocket in an epic explosion earlier this year, found success last night with a ideal launch and historic landing of the rocket back on Earth.

SpaceX successfully launched and landed a rocket Monday night, and it was carrying a New Jersey payload.

The rocket’s main stage then turned around, fired a series of engine burns, deployed landing legs, and settled itself onto a newly refurbished landing pad occupying a decommissioned missile site about 10 kilometres from the launch pad. The previous two times the private spaceflight company tried to return a rocket to Earth didn’t go so well either-the Falcon 9’s first stage either crashed or tipped over while attempting to land on a barge at sea.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in 2013 that the first stage makes up three-quarters of the total cost. And on twitter he congratulated SpaceX, and said: “Welcome to the club!”

SpaceX is aiming to revolutionise the rocket industry, which up until now has lost millions of dollars in discarded machinery and valuable rocket parts after each launch.

In fact, while we’re on the subject of suborbital landings, Musk probably got there first anyway. It’s SpaceX first return to flight since one of its rockets blew up in June.

It’s a precedent-setting feat for the US company – full name, Space Exploration Technology Corp. – as it’s seen as the first successful bid to bring back a rocket for an orbital flight. He added that he “could not have asked for a better mission or a better day”. Along with Boeing, SpaceX now is under contract by NASA to launch astronauts to the International Space Station. “It also has a number of reliability enhancements, such as a redundant stage separation system and greater structural safety margins”, the inventor said. Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, has been striving to cut down the cost of space travel, and they took a major step in the right direction on December 21 by successfully launching a rocket that returned to Earth completely intact for reuse.