Space X rocket in historic vertical landing! |
Post Reply |
Author | |
MartinW
Moderator in Command Joined: 31 Mar 2008 Location: United Kingdom Points: 26722 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Posted: 22 Dec 2015 at 11:19am |
US company SpaceX has successfully landed an unmanned rocket upright, after sending 11 satellites into orbit.
The Falcon-9 craft touched down late on Monday night, about 10km from its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. It is not the first spacecraft to land a booster vertically; that feat was claimed by the much smaller New Shepard rocket in Texas last month. Nonetheless the Falcon-9 flight, which also went twice as high as New Shepard, is a milestone towards reusing rockets. SpaceX aims to slash the cost of private space operations with such reusable components - but the company has not launched a rocket since one exploded in June. On that occasion an unmanned Falcon-9 broke apart in flames minutes after lifting off from Cape Canaveral, with debris tumbling out of the sky into the Atlantic Ocean. The rocket, which had 18 straight successes prior to the fateful flight, was in the process of sending a cargo ship to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX has a $1.6bn (£1.08bn; €1.47bn) contract with Nasa to send supplies to the ISS. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35157782 |
|
Jim
P/UT Joined: 14 Nov 2012 Location: Portsmouth UK Points: 238 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
That landing reminds me of the 1950's movie Destination Moon.
|
|
Post Reply | |
Tweet
|
Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum |