SpaceX Launch-What Elon Musk Is Doing Here That’ll Change Spaceflight

On a foggy Sunday afternoon, SpaceX successfully launched the Jason 3 weather satellite into orbit on one of its prized Falcon 9 rockets.

After the botched landing, Mr. Musk, SpaceX’s founder, chief executive and top designer, sent a Tweet stressing that it is “definitely harder to land on a ship”, which he compared to the difference between aiming for “an aircraft carrier vs. land…”

SpaceX is now aiming to chalk up two successful rocket launches and landings in a row over the past month – if all goes well with Sunday’s Falcon 9 liftoff.

Musk tweeted that the lockout collet on one of the rocket’s four legs didn’t latch, causing it to tip over after landing.

According to The Associated Press, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted a video of the landing attempt to his Instagram account. Hopefully the next sea landing will be spot-on.

The mission of Jason-3 is to continue an unbroken record of more than two decades of sea level measurements from orbit.

The company’s subsequent launch will take off from Florida no earlier than February 6, but that rocket must deliver the SES-9 communications satellite to geostationary orbit.

Nasa Washington associate administrator for science John Grunsfeld said: “Jason-3 is a prime example of how our nation leverages Nasa’s expertise in space and scientific exploration to help address critical global challenges in collaboration with NOAA and our worldwide partners”. “We had a really good landing last time, so things are looking good at this point in time”. The project is being led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in collaboration with the United States space agency NASA, CNES (the French Space Agency) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites. That flight was also the last time SpaceX launched a rocket from their California launch pad.

The ability to land at sea would give the company flexibility to recover rockets used on more demanding missions, such as launching heavy satellites, when boosters do not have enough fuel left to reach land.

The cost of the mission, including five years of operation, was put at $180 million.