A reused Falcon 9 rocket seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral. Image from video
The first used space rocket to carry a satellite into orbit a second time made history Thursday when it was successfully launched by Hawthorne-based SpaceX.
The previously used rocket — which is the first to be used in two space missions — was successfully recovered a second time after blasting off. It touched town aboard a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
The mission marks a first for SpaceX, which has been making history by successfully retrieving the expensive first stage of its Falcon 9 rockets used to propel satellites and spacecraft into orbit. Rockets have traditionally been allowed to burn up or splash down into the ocean, but SpaceX has been piloting them back to landing pads so they can be re-used, saving millions of dollars.
Thursday’s mission will mark the first time one of the recovered rockets is re-used. The first stage of the rocket was previously used to launch a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station in April 2016.
The mission “will mark a historic milestone on the road to full and rapid reusability as the world’s first reflight of an orbital class rocket,” according to SpaceX.
The SES satellite is expected to boost communications capacity across Latin America, “ranging from the Gulf of California in Mexico to Cape Horn in Chile,” according to SpaceX.
—City News Service
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