The Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched, carrying 11 satellites to low-Earth orbit. The flight marked SpaceX’s first successful landing of the first stage booster. Eric Berger writing for Ars Technica:
However, it is worth noting that on Monday night the Falcon 9 rocket descended from about twice the altitude as the New Shepherd vehicle, and at about twice the speed, approximately Mach 7.5. It did not simply drop back to Earth from a vertical launch; rather, the Falcon 9 flew hundreds of kilometres away from the coast before turning around and flying back. By doing so it became the first orbital rocket ever to achieve such a feat, and presumably the first of many.
New Shepard is Blue Origin’s reusable rocket which successfully returned to earth after flying into suborbital space on November 23, 2015.
UPDATE: SpaceX has published the full video of the flight (45:27), with Tim Urban as special guest.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
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