SpaceX to try upright landing on comeback
Print Edition
SPACEX yesterday began the countdown to its first rocket launch since an explosion after liftoff destroyed its unmanned Dragon cargo ship bound for the International Space Station six months ago.
The Falcon 9 rocket was poised to launch at 8:29pm yesterday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, said the California, United States-based company headed by Internet tycoon Elon Musk.
After launch, SpaceX will attempt to land the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket in an upright position on solid ground for the first time, a milestone it sees as key for making rockets as reusable as planes one day.
“If successful, this test would mark the first time in history an orbital rocket has successfully achieved a land landing,” it said.
Several previous attempts at landing the rocket on a floating ocean platform have failed, but SpaceX says each try has taught them more about how to succeed.
SpaceX will aim to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 at a former US Air Force rocket and missile testing range that was last used in 1978. The range is known as Landing Zone 1, and was formerly called Space Launch Complex 13.
While the landing is important to SpaceX’s plans, the primary goal of the mission is to deliver 11 satellites to low-Earth orbit for ORBCOMM, a global communications company.
Last month, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — who owns rocket company Blue Origin — said he’d successfully landed his New Shepard rocket after a suborbital flight. New Shepard flew to a lower altitude than the Falcon 9, making the landing an easier feat for Bezos’s rocket than it would be for Musk’s, analysts said.
Both companies are aiming to boost savings and efficiency in modern rocketry by creating a new generation of complex machines that can be re-used after launch.
At present, rocket components costing many millions of dollars are jettisoned as debris after takeoff.
The Falcon 9 is 30 percent stronger than previous versions, SpaceX said.
The return to flight is an important milestone for SpaceX, following the June 28 accident when a Falcon 9 exploded after launching from Cape Canaveral.
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