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First Recycled Rocket launched and retrieved after successful mission by SpaceX

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Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) successfully launched it Falcon 9 from space launch complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, Florida and retrieved it on March 30, 2017. The rocket was used to launch SES communications satellite into space.

Falcon 9 rocket used a booster that had previously flown cargo to the astronauts living at the International Space Station which makes it as the first ever recycled rocket sent by SpaceX. The booster is reused from the rocket which flown to space in the month of March, 2016.

The rocket landed on the bull’s eye after it successfully placed the communications satellite in outer space.

Background

The plan to launch a reused rocket has been prepared for the past 15 years and for this space xreusability effort has cost a sum of USD 1 billion for the company.

Plans for the Future

  • SpaceX aims to launch up to six reused boosters in 2017, two of them is ready to fly the super sized Falcon Heavy weight rocket within its is familiar uncharted territory.
  • The company has also planned to fly two paying customers to the moon in 2018 and also building a capsule to launch NASA astronauts.
  • It is also designing the Red Dragon, a robotic spacecraft intended to launch to Mars in 2020.

About SpaceX

  • Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) is an Aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company founded on May 6, 2002.
  • Headquartered in Hawthorne, California, the company was founded by Elon Musk who is also a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
  • The company launched its first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to reach orbit named Falcon 1 Flight 4 launched on September 28, 2008.
  • The products prepared are Falcon launch vehicles and Dragon capsules.

About booster

Boosters are the most expensive part of the rocket which gives the thrust to attain the required speed while takeoff. They are typically discarded following liftoff, sinking into the ocean or sea nearby.