Monday, June 3, 2013

SpaceX Test Fires New Rocket

Hawthorne-based SpaceX, the commercial rocket and spacecraft firm headed by tech mogul Elon Musk, has just fired off a test on a new, Falcon 9 rocket. According to Musk, in a tweet, the firm just had its first firing of its Falcon 9-R advanced prototype rocket, which has over 1 million pounds of thrust, enough to "life a skyscraper". The firing this morning by SpaceX is part of a series of tests SpaceX has been running on its rockets on its new, more powerful Merlin 1D engines--for use on the upcoming Falcon Heavy.