SpaceX achieves first-ever unmanned sea landing of reusable Falcon 9 rocket
See video of the Falcon 9 rocket engine make its first sea landing
SpaceX successfully landed its Falcon 9 rocket’s reusable first-stage booster on a drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean on Friday. It was the company’s fifth attempt at a sea landing and first successful one.
The rocket’s first-stage booster landed a few minutes after launch on the drone ship, called Of Course I Still Love You. In December, SpaceX’s first-stage booster successfully returned to land at Cape Canaveral.
“That is amazing!” Chris Hadfield, a retired Canadian astronaut who was commander of the International Space Station, said Friday on Twitter. “World-leading ability, proven. Opens the imagination to what is possible.”
That is amazing! World-leading ability, proven. Opens the imagination to what is possible
In January, SpaceX managed to guide a Falcon 9 first stage to the specially designed drone ship, where it landed upright but toppled almost immediately after a stabiliser arm collapsed.
Friday’s landing capped SpaceX’s launch of a cargo delivery for Nasa to the International Space Station.
If that part of the mission is successful, it will be the company’s first trip to the space station since last April. An attempt in June failed when a SpaceX rocket disintegrated just minutes after lift-off.
Lift-off of the current mission took place as scheduled at 4.43 pm EDT at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.