Elon Musk's SpaceX reached a milestone in reusability yesterday when it successfully relaunched a segment of one of its Falcon 9 rockets.
United States spaceflight company SpaceX has today successfully reused a Falcon 9 rocket first stage as part of a satellite launch.
At 6:27 p.m.ET, a Falcon booster first launched almost a year ago fired the same nine engines to thunder from pad 39A and propel a second mission on its way to orbit, something no rocket has done before.
SpaceX is aiming for another space industry first on Thursday when it plans to launch a Falcon 9 rocket that has flown before, a key step in billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's quest to cut the cost of space flight.
In a first, SpaceX is set to launch a commercial communications satellite using a first-stage rocket booster that previously flew last year.
SpaceX's achievement isn't just an enormous success for the company but also for all of us.
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After hearing the news, the Chinese president paused for 10 seconds, Trump said. And President Xi was enjoying it", Trump said. He said: "I really liked him".
"Reusable rockets will not only drive down the launch cost", it said in a statement. Reusing rockets is essential for companies like SpaceX that want to drive down the cost of space travel. The rocket will lift off from Kennedy Space Center's Pad 39A in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the site of numerous Apollo and Space Shuttle-era launches, including the Apollo 11 mission that sent the first humans to the Moon. It nailed another vertical landing at sea Thursday once it was finished boosting the satellite for the SES company of Luxembourg. With that said, an entirely new rocket has to be built for each and every mission, costing up to hundreds of millions worth of dollars.
SpaceX has been working toward its goal of using recycled rockets for more than a year. Falcon 9's first stage for the SES-10 mission previously supported the successful CRS-8 mission in April 2016.
Musk heaped appreciation on SES for its faith in SpaceX and estimated that there may be as many as 6 flights this year that will utilize a recovered booster.
What do you think about SpaceX successfully landing the "world's first reflight of an orbital class rocket"?
The satellite - called SES-10 - is meant to provide TV, radio, telephone and internet coverage for South America.
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