SUCCESS ONCE AGAIN! SpaceX Falcon 9 Conducts Successful Launch and Landing On Droneship
By Space Coast Daily // May 6, 2016
ABOVE VIDEO: FULL REPLAY of the SpaceX launch and landing. (SpaceX Video)
BREVARD COUNTY • CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA – The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the JCSAT 14 communications satellite for Tokyo-based SKY Perfect JSAT Corp on Friday night from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 1:21 a.m. ET and successfully landed the stage’s return on a droneship for the second time in a row.
JCSAT 14 will support data networks, television broadcasters and mobile communications users in Japan, East Asia, Russia, Oceania, Hawaii and other Pacific islands.
The successful landing was much more challenging this go-round due to the increased speed and temperature, according to experts with SpaceX and founder Elon Musk.
After the successful landing last month, SpaceX transported the stage to Port Canaveral on April 12 and took it to Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A that resulted in SpaceX signing a 20-year lease with NASA to use.
ABOVE VIDEO: The landing of SpaceX Falcon 9 on a droneship.
Rocket reentry is a lot faster and hotter than last time, so odds of making it are maybe even, but we should learn a lot either way
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 6, 2016
ABOUT SPACEX
SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.
SpaceX is a private company founded in 2002 by CEO and Lead Designer Elon Musk.
The company has more than 4,000 employees at its headquarters in Hawthorne, California; launch facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; a rocket-development facility in McGregor, Texas; and offices in Houston, Texas; Chantilly, Virginia; and Washington, DC.
SpaceX has gained worldwide attention for a series of historic milestones. It is the only private company ever to return a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit, which it first accomplished in December 2010.
The company made history again in May 2012 when its Dragon spacecraft attached to the International Space Station, exchanged cargo payloads, and returned safely to Earth — a technically challenging feat previously accomplished only by governments. Since then Dragon has delivered cargo to and from the space station multiple times, providing regular cargo resupply missions for NASA.
Under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA, SpaceX will fly numerous cargo supply missions to the ISS, for a total of 12 –and in the near future, SpaceX will carry crew as well. Dragon was designed from the outset to carry astronauts and now, under $440 million agreement with NASA, SpaceX is making modifications to make Dragon crew-ready.
SpaceX is the world’s fastest provider of launch services. Profitable and cash-flow positive, the has over 70 launches on its manifest, representing over $10 billion in contracts. These include commercial satellite launches as well as NASA missions.
Currently under development is the Falcon Heavy, which will be the world’s most power rocket. All the while, SpaceX continues to work toward of its key goals– developing reusable rockets, a feat that will transform space exploration by delivering highly reliable vehicles at radically reduced costs.
