SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Landing a Major Milestone in Space Travel

On Monday, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from the Florida site to deliver a payload of 11 satellites to low Earth orbit.

But there was another first for SpaceX – the landing. The company successfully brought the first stage of the rocket back to earth, evidence that SpaceX can reclaim its materials – materials that cost millions to construct.

Falcon 9 was carrying 11 satellites into orbit. SpaceX has more Falcon 9 launches (and booster landings) scheduled, and will hopefully test its massive Falcon Heavy next year; this is essentially three Falcon 9s strapped together, and will have a higher lift capacity than any other rocket on Earth. The historic landing of the first-stage booster back at Cape Canaveral could potentially lead to an era of cheaper space travel through reusable spacecraft.

SpaceX employees broke into cheers and chants, some of them jumping up and down, following the smooth touchdown nine minutes after liftoff. (Reuters photo) Several attempts to land the Falcon 9’s first stage on a floating ocean platform have failed – with the rocket either colliding with the autonomous drone ship or tipping over.

Adding to the competitive nature of the commercial space industry, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s rocket company Blue Origin announced last month it had successfully landed its New Shepard rocket after a suborbital flight.

The landing leg tooling was designed by Leading Edge, Johnson said, and is its most significant contribution to SpaceX.

Now having overcome this setback, SpaceX is set to resume more missions with the Falcon 9 in January 2016.

The billionaire entrepreneur who also runs the Tesla electric auto company, was in Florida for the mission. The Blue Origin rocket that landed upright in November made a much shorter sub-orbital flight. “Once we bring vehicles back”, says MA Kotwal, former L&T board member, “space transportation can take off”.

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.

In itself the launch was significant, being the first Falcon 9 to take off since a disastrous explosion destroyed its unmanned International Space Station supply craft in June. A snapped strut in the upper stage was to blame. Company videos show each returning to Earth for reuse.