SpaceX Ready to Attempt Another Historic Rocket Landing

The difference, which accounts for the additional propellant needed for the first stage to turn around to return to land, translates into improved payload capacity for missions where the first stage lands at sea.

A successful test will allow preparations to continue for the January 17 launch of Jason-3, a joint U.S.-French mission to measure ocean surface conditions.

The launch will take place from Vandenberg airbase in California.

All the attempts except one ended in failure with the rocket either missing the platform or colliding with the barge or toppling over after landing. “Jason-3 data also will benefit fisheries management, marine industries and research into human impacts on the world’s oceans”, NASA wrote of Jason-3’s mission. The launch which will be visible with the naked eye to those in Southern California, and will be the company’s first launch of a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Air Force Base since 2013.

The reason is that SpaceX is using a different, older version of the Falcon-9 (version 1.1).

After successfully landing the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket on solid ground December 21, 2015, SpaceX will attempt to land a returning rocket on a droneship in the Pacific Ocean. In the first launch since that catastrophe it managed to land the booster rocket on land, so now it’s heading back out to the ocean. SpaceX’s Landing Zone 1 is located in Florida, near Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The rocket’s primary payload, the Jason 3 satellite, will make detailed measurements of sea level on Earth to provide insight into ocean circulation and climate change.

Still, the company would like to flawless sea-based landings.

Third time is the charm for Space X?

If everything goes as planned, SpaceX will send NOAA’s Jason-3 spacecraft aloft in about five days time, with the opening of the launch window slated to take place at 10:42 p.m. PST. Something noted by SpaceX CEO and Founder – Elon Musk on Twitter around the same time as SpaceX’s tweet.