Friday, April 25, 2014

SpaceX Soft Lands Falcon 9, Says Musk

Hawthorne-based SpaceX successfully "soft landed" its Falcon 9 rocket last week, as part of the successful resupply mission to the International Space Station--the precursor to landing the Falcon 9 on land. According to Elon Musk, in a surprise press conference Friday, SpaceX wants to eventually land its rockets with the accuracy of a helicopter on dry land--somtehing which would enable its rockets to be recovered and reused. The test this time was over water, with the rocket landing softly vertically over water--instead of burning up on its re-entry into the atmosphere.

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