![]() The plan is to re-fire that rocket about 10 times on the ground to test it before using it on a mission, possibly as early as June, he said. The rocket is being welded to the deck using steel shoes so it doesn't tip over during its trip back to port, Musk said. The liftoff this afternoon from Cape Canaveral in Florida marked the first resupply mission for SpaceX since an explosion after liftoff last June that destroyed Dragon and the thousands of pounds of cargo on board. The drone ship landings are especially needed for "high velocity missions," which would allow payloads such as satellites to reach a higher orbit, such as geostationary orbits, he said. Mastering a drone ship landing is necessary when it is "just not physically possible to return to launch site," Musk previously explained. "Full and rapid re-usability is fundamental," Musk noted again today. Having the ability to recycle rockets is something Musk has said will "revolutionize access to space," reducing costs by as much as a factor of one hundred, he said. ![]() SpaceX successfully landed a Falcon 9 rocket in December on land after launching a satellite into orbit. "The rocket landed instead of putting a hole in the ship or tipping over," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a news conference after the successful landing, later adding: "It's another step toward the stars." The rocket has not been inspected but appeared to land upright in relatively calm waters - a stark difference from previous attempts that have resulted in fiery crash landings. ![]() Today's attempt was the fourth time SpaceX had tried to land its Falcon 9 on a drone ship. After a picture perfect launch of Dragon to the International Space Station, SpaceX successfully landed a rocket for the first time on a drone ship parked off the coast of Florida. ![]()
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