After epic rocket crash, historic success for SpaceX

But more attention may be on SpaceX’s first attempt to land the rocket’s first stage back on Earth, although the company itself described the landing as “a secondary test objective”.

Aside from the return on land, this launch was also different since it used an upgraded Falcon 9 that stands slightly taller than predecessors at 229.6 feet and has more thrust.

SpaceX completed an historic vertical landing of its Falcon 9 rocket on Monday night.

“Thus has been a wildly successful return to flight for SpaceX”, one launch commentator at the company reportedly said. “We made history today”. Because the SpaceX rocket is more powerful, and reached a low-earth orbit, the SpaceX achievement is being touted-at least by Musk-as more significant.

Commercial spaceflight company SpaceX accomplished launching a rocket with a group of communications satellites into orbit. All 11 were successfully deployed.

ORBCOMM chief executive officer Marc Eisenberg said: “Today marks a significant milestone for our company”.

This was SpaceX’s first launch in six months, as the previous one exploded shortly after launch while carrying supplies to the International Space Station in June. According to SpaceX, the explosion was caused by a failed strut in the rocket’s upper state liquid-oxygen tank.

Just two minutes after launch that day, the Falcon 9 disintegrated, destroying food and other supplies greatly needed on board the space station.

The first-stage booster turned around and headed back to the landing site after the second stage separated and continued to orbit with the satellites. SpaceX is leasing the touchdown area – marked by a giant X – from the Air Force.

Musk had not responded to Bezos at the time of publication.

Billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, another rocket company, successfully landed a booster last month in West Texas. In the space shuttle days, those rockets were single-use only, abandoned to the ocean after launch.