On December 21, spaceflight company SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on land after three failed attempts at landing it at sea. The second, or upper, stage of the spacecraft continued on to transport 11 satellites into orbit. Despite doubts on whether the landing would be successful, Falcon 9’s first stage landed vertically at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Since its founding in 2002, SpaceX has concentrated its efforts on designing and manufacturing reusable rockets. The cost to build a rocket—the piece of the spacecraft that lifts it into the atmosphere—is immense. Falcon 9 cost $16 million. Normally, rockets are discarded after launch, but through creating reusable rockets SpaceX is working to cut costs of space travel. The purpose of the December 21 landing was to test the reusability of the Falcon 9 rocket.
Twice earlier in 2015, SpaceX attempted to launch and land a Falcon 9 rocket. However, the craft exploded on impact with the deck on both occasions. On June 28, the rocket fell apart while delivering a Dragon spacecraft that was bringing cargo to the International Space Station. The Falcon 9 rocket that launched on December 21 was upgraded with increased boost thrust, deep cryo oxidizer (a highly efficient propellant), and a larger engine bell nozzle to the upper stage.
More recently, on January 17 SpaceX attempted for the fourth time to land a rocket at sea. Falcon 9 launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to deliver a Jason-3 satellite into orbit for NASA. This part of the mission went as planned; however, SpaceX did not completely achieve their secondary goal of successfully landing a rocket at sea. Ice buildup on the landing leg of the rocket caused problems that made the rocket topple over when it landed. Despite this setback, the company is optimistic about its future sea landings. SpaceX will be using a different version of the Falcon 9 rocket for future endeavors—an upgraded version of the one that successfully landed in December.
Currently, the aerospace company, along with developing reusable rockets, is working on creating a manned version of its Dragon spacecraft in compliance with a contract with NASA to send astronauts into space. SpaceX’s eventual goal is to make it possible for humans to live on planets other than Earth, which includes the colonization of Mars. Generating reusable rockets will substantially cut the costs of space travel, which may in turn support this end goal.