SpaceX's Historic Rocket Landing

[hhfarang]

"Incredible photos and video from SpaceX’s historic rocket landing"

https://bgr.com/2015/12/22/spacex-rocke ... ng-photos/

[pharvey]

Really quite something IMO - was all the news whilst I was travelling yesterday. A new era for space travel - all great stuff in my book!!

[dtaai-maai]

Yes, this slipped under my personal radar, but on reading about it this really is a giant leap for the space industry.
Very interesting.

[hhfarang]

"SpaceX’s 'reusable' Falcon 9 rocket won’t fly again, Elon Musk says"



The history-making Falcon 9 first stage will never fly again, Elon Musk said during a press call this evening. "I think we’ll probably keep this one on the ground," he said, "just [because] it’s kind of unique, it’s the first one we’ve brought back."

The plan, Musk said, is to take the booster from Landing Zone 1 to SpaceX's other site at Cape Canaveral, Launch Complex 39A. There, the company will perform a static fire test — where the rocket is held down and the engines are fired at full thrust — on the launchpad to confirm that the rocket's systems are still in good shape. After that, the company will find out whether this particular rocket could fly again. But SpaceX won't try to fly a landed Falcon 9 again until "sometime next year," according to Musk.

Monday's historic launch and landing was a big first step toward making rockets reusable. But it’s only a step, because this booster — which could be reused — won’t be.

[STEVE G]

Launch complex 39A is the one that was used by Neil Armstrong and crew for the moon landing in 1969, so it's seen a bit of use over the years.

[hhfarang]

"Watch SpaceX's Falcon 9 Rocket Land, Tip Over, and Explode"

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/watch-spacex ... 15161.html

[brianks]

Yes, even though the last attempt to land the Falcon 9 booster failed I was impressed greatly by the precision of the booster coming down vertical exactly where it was suppose to. Such a monumental feet to land that booster on a moving ocean platform its unbelievable. The mere fact they keep trying will eventually lead to success. If and when they get it, will be a real breakthrough lowering the cost of space travel. Elon keeps thinking outside the box.

[Frank La Rue]

I love it.

Curious about the economics of bringing hardware up the gravity well and back down though. A bit like "New York, New York" with Frank SInatra? "If You can land it here, you'll land it anywhere" ? Landing and taking off from the Moon next?