SpaceX successfully re-launches and lands orbital rocket booster

SpaceX today successfully launched a communications satellite into orbit and also flew the first stage booster back down for a safe landing onto a floating platform at sea. This launch and landing are historic because the booster had flown once before (April 2016). This was the first time an orbital rocket booster had been re-flown.

Screen capture of SpaceX webcast shows the booster shortly after it landed on the company’s floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

Here is a video clip from the webcast showing video from the booster as it came down towards the sea. The video transmission dropped out briefly (the antenna on the platform is shaken by the plume of the rocket) but then the image comes of the rocket in the center of the ship:

Some words from Elon Musk about the successful mission:

A video of the launch from Kennedy Space Center:

Here is the whole webcast:

 

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