Early Friday, SpaceXs’ booster successfully landed on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean, minutes after a 1:21 am launch after delivering a Japanese communications satellite on its reusable Falcon 9 rocket.
However, there weren’t many expectations from Friday’s feat. SpaceX had earlier indicated that there were less chances of success, while CEO Elon Musk offered even odds.
While speaking about the risk of failure, Musk said that the first stage of Falcon 9 would come back to ground at a quite faster pace and in a hotter condition than previously because the mission was flying to a very higher orbit.
According to a report in Florida Today by James Dean, “The landing was SpaceX’s second at sea in less than a month, and followed a first booster landing in December on a pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Last month’s feat, after several failed attempts, showed that it was possible to land on an unpiloted “drone ship” bobbing in the ocean.”
The accomplishment has even bigger implications than last month’s first sea landing for SpaceX’s goals to recover and reuse rockets, which is believed as the key to cutting launch costs and even enabling people to settle in Mars someday.
Source: PerfScience
