SpaceX, the company, led by billionaire and visionary Elon Musk, has done it again – another Falcon 9 has landed successfully. It is a big step forward for Musk and his team, as he plans to make spaceflight affordable and frequent.
Before it landed on the drone-ship station in the Atlantic, the Falcon 9 launched the EchoStar 105/SES-11 satellite on Wednesday. This was not the first time this particular rocket is used because back in February, the Falcon 9 has been sent to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. The starting point for the launch was NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
SpaceX is making quite a progress because this last one marked the company’s 15th launch this year and the second one this week! For those who don’t know, the part of the rocket which returned and landed safely is called the booster, and it is the third time the SpaceX has used one of the landed boosters for one extra flight. So far, they have been used once, but it appears that SpaceX found a solution on how to reuse them.
This is a significant step forward because it is going to cut costs in the company’s quest to make journeys to space everyday occurrence and make it cheaper. According to Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX plans to launch one mission on a consistent basis, so we expect one rocket launch every two-to-three weeks.
This is just one of the missions on the SpaceX’s checklist. The more significant endeavor is probably a mission to Mars. Musk may be the first man to send people to the Red Planet, and he wants to establish a colony that will be able to sustain itself and survives there. To make this possible, 42-engine rocket is supposed to be assembled and it will be able to transport around 100 people.
According to Musk, the Interplanetary Transport System is going to launch people to Mars and back.
