SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Successfully Lands After Space Flight

The 8:29 liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral was its first after the loss of a rocket six months ago that was carrying supplies to the International Space Station. The SpaceX launch and landing this week was a much trickier accomplishment, and marks the first time a rocket has been safely landed after delivering a payload into orbit.

Before the rocket explosion in June, SpaceX successfully got its rocket back to the ground but watched as it tipped over during the landing attempt.

SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk was quoted by The New York Times as saying: “It really felt like it was right on top of us”.

Many rockets use multiple stages, or engine sets, to reduce weight during launch. The company is owned by Tesla owner Elon Musk.

“We achieved recovery of the rocket in a mission that actually deployed 11 satellites”. About two minutes into the flight, the rocket’s first-stage separated cleanly from the second stage and began a controlled descent back to Earth.

“It’s a revolutionary moment”, Musk told the press after the landing. “No one has ever brought an orbital class booster back intact”. Three tries at vertical landings of the first-stage boosters earlier this year failed; in each case, the segment aimed for a modified barge off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida. “Welcome to the club”, tweeted Blue Origin’s founder, Jeff Bezos, shortly after SpaceX’s flight.

The mission’s primary objective was the delivery of 11 satellites into a low Earth orbit constellation for ORBCOMM, a machine-to-machine and Internet of Things solutions provider. As this technology develops, it will make recreational space travel, new manned expeditions to the Moon, and even to Mars, considerably more cost-effective.

The tall, white portion of the rocket glided back to Earth, its engines burning bright orange against a black night sky.

SpaceX’s achievement follows the successful landing of Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft and propulsion module after it flew into suborbital space in November.