SoylentNews

Falcon 9 Stage 1 successful landing

e_armadillo writes:

I just watched the live stream at http://www.spacex.com/, and they did it! Elon is the man!

SpaceX Succeeds in Landing Booster

J053 writes:

SpaceX has successfully launched their upgraded Falcon-9 rocket, returned and successfully landed the booster stage (on land!), and deployed a constellation of 11 Orbcomm satellites.

SpaceX Just Landed a Rocket for the First Time

martyb writes:

Wired is reporting that SpaceX Just Landed a Rocket for the First Time:

They stuck the landing! For the first time ever, SpaceX has landed a booster after sending its payload into orbit—on the ground.

Over the past year, SpaceX has tried and failed to land the first-stage booster of its Falcon 9 rocket twice on a drone barge in the ocean. (And on its third try, the rocket blew up on launch, which, yeah.) This time, SpaceX managed to land its rocket on a landing pad on Cape Canaveral, Florida. Being able to reuse the booster could help cut launch costs in the future.

Also, SpaceX's YouTube channel posted a 56-minute video: "ORBCOMM-2 Full Launch Webcast by SpaceX".

SpaceX Stage 1 Booster Landed Successfully

el_oscuro writes:

Elon Musk's SpaceX not only blasted 11 satellites to orbit on Monday, but also brought its towering first-stage booster back down, with a historic landing at a pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla.

It was the company's first launch since its rocket carrying cargo to the International Space Station exploded on June 28.

The full video is available http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-spacex-return-to-flight-20151221-story.html

The launch is at about 32 minutes in, and the booster lands at about 42 minutes.

Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2 Original Submission 3